Akiko's Youthful Desire

Chapter 1
Akiko's Youthful Desire

Written by Grennd. Additions and original idea by Lorekeep.

Walking across the campus to her art class, Akiko Fubihara reflected on things. She was giddy with excitement, realizing she had exactly three months before graduating from college. However, she was also anxious for the future. She recalled that her best memories were from high school, when she was in her teen years. Her college career had been enjoyable, but it wasn’t as great as high school, in her estimation. Maybe I’m just getting old, she thought. She pushed these ideas out of her head as she approached the building where her art class resided.

The sketching pencil scratched across the paper, drawing the fair face of a woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with only the faintest of wrinkles stemming from her decidedly Asian features. She had feathery black hair cut in a short style. The artist moved her pencil down the sheet, sketching out the woman’s body. She was in good shape, and had a curvy sort of figure. Her breasts were ample, and were accentuated by a tight cerulean T-shirt with nonsense English sentences decorating it. She wore tight jeans with a slight flare at the ends of their legs. On her feet were heavy black boots, adorned with several shiny metal buckles. The boots gave her a large boost in height, but she didn’t need it. Even from looking at the illustration, one could tell she was quite tall.

The drawing was of Akiko, by herself. It was mostly accurate, besides the wrinkles, which were rather exaggerated. The class had been instructed to create self-portraits, and the teacher was ambling around Akiko’s way. He was an elderly man, but walked without any kind of stoop. His grayed hair was cut in a conservative style. The teacher peered at Akiko’s drawing, and nodded his approval.

“Quite good, Fubihara. Except...” Here he pointed with the butt of a pen. “You don’t flatter yourself with these wrinkles. You don’t look half that bad.”

He smiled at her, and she merely gave a blank look back. “Thank you, Kitabatake-san.”

The old man was satisfied, and sauntered off to inspect more students’ work. Over at Akiko’s table, a fellow student leaned over to speak to her.

“Always worried about the wrinkles, that’s our Akiko!” said the student. She was one of Akiko’s friends, and knew about her fixation with aging. Her name was Chiaki. She, in contrast with the majority of their Japanese school, was white. She had long, curly blonde hair and an air of arrogance about her. She was attractive, and seemed much younger than she really was. This was a constant source of annoyance for Akiko.

“Quiet, Chiaki.” Akiko snapped. She could discuss this subject quite easily with her other friends, but not Chiaki.

“I’m not done yet. You know I read an interesting report the other day? It said that Asian women tend to age poorly.”

“Don’t make those kinds of jokes.”

“No! I’m serious! It has something to do with their skin, or something. I don’t remember. Look it up if you want!”

Akiko chose not to respond, and returned to her illustration.

After class, Chiaki and Akiko walked together to another building, which they both had a class in. Along the way, they spotted a familiar person jogging their way. It was another one of their friends, a girl named Ryo. She was a year older than Akiko, but didn’t act it. She had her long hair tied up in pigtails, and wore a pink backpack with a ridiculous amount of anime-themed charms and pins clutched to it. She wore glasses most of the time, but had recently started wearing brightly colored contacts. Today her eyes shone a vibrant shade of purple.

“Chiaki! Akiko! You wouldn’t believe it!” she started as she approached them, gasping for breath. “You know that cosplay convention they’re having week after next? They just announced their mystery musical guest!” She looked at the two, waiting for them to ask her who.

“Who?” asked Akiko.

“TM Revolution!” Ryo said, practically squealing. Akiko knew this was important to her, as TMR was one of Ryo’s favorite pop idols. In fact, he was her absolute favorite. Saying he was one of her favorite things in existence would be more accurate.

“One of you’s got to come with me!” she continued, looking hopefully at them. Chiaki gave an arrogant snort, as if such things were below her. Akiko seemed to consider, then Ryo suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Oh, Akiko! You’ve got to go with me!” Ryo said, looking to her pleadingly.

“I don’t know, Ryo. I’ve got some hard classes to study for...”

Ryo whimpered a bit.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” Akiko said, if only to console her.

“You will? Great!” Ryo gushed, as if Akiko had promised to go. “Oh yeah, one more thing. You have class with Izumi-san next, right?”

Akiko nodded an affirmative.

“Well, look out today. She’s somewhat cross.”

“Why?” asked Chiaki.

“Well, apparently the tea in the teacher’s room wasn’t to her liking. You know how she needs the caffeine, and somebody used some sort of weird herbal tea with no caffeine. I bet it was old Kitabatake-san, I hear he can’t see well enough to read anymore.”

They walked to rest of the distance in silence, Ryo departing with an enthusiastic goodbye. Akiko and Chiaki endured their cultures class, with a very cranky Izumi-san.

After her classes, Akiko headed home. Her house was small, but fairly decent, considering she had no roommates and paid all the rent herself. It was the weekend, and Akiko wanted nothing more than to rest through it. In her earlier years, she would have been eager to spend the weekend out partying and having a good time. Now, she simply didn’t have the energy. She lounged about for a while, then had dinner and went to an early bed. The next day, she studied for her classes, until she heard her doorbell ring. She hurriedly rushed to the door and opened it. No one was outside. Akiko looked around, and noticed a nondescript brown package lying on her doorstep. She picked up this curiosity, and went back inside. It was about this size and shape of a bottle of perfume, and seemed to contain some liquid, judging from the faint gurgling noises from inside. Akiko tore the wrapping off, to reveal a purple bottle filled with some kind of liquid. She looked at it quizzically, and then turned it over in her hand. On the other side, in large kanji, it read: “Youth Potion”.

The curious look on Akiko’s face was replaced by one of anger. Someone was obviously playing a joke on her! She tore through the wrappings to see if there was some kind of note or card, and found one. It didn’t mention who sent it. Instead, it contained instructions. It read:

For males: one dose reverses one year. For females: one dose reverses four years. One dose is a capful. Restoration will be gradual. Expect at least a day for each recovered year.

Akiko was disgusted. She threw the wrappings and instructions in the trash, and left the bottle on her kitchen counter. She tried to return to her studying, but was too flustered to concentrate. She turned on the television and watched it for a while. An advertisement came on for the cosplay convention Ryo was talking about.

Akiko thought of the conventions she had attended with Ryo in the past. They had definitely been fun, but that was almost half a decade ago. Akiko didn’t think she could find the energy or interest to manage it. She decided that she’d tell Ryo she wasn’t coming.

The next day, Akiko went back to her studying. She still couldn’t concentrate, still fixated on the Youth Potion. She then thought of Chiaki’s claim of Asian aging. She got up, sat down at her computer and searched for it.

Everything she found, every report she read, echoed what Chiaki said. Despairing, Akiko’s thoughts drifted to the Youth Potion. She shook her head, resolving not to fall for the prankster’s trick.

On Monday, Akiko dreaded seeing Ryo again. Ryo caught up with her at lunch, her bright face optimistic.

“So, Akiko, you going to go to the convention with me?”

“Uh, actually... I don’t think I’m going to. I have to study for a big test that weekend.”

Ryo looked crushed. She blurted, “Chiaki’s right! You’re getting too old too fast! You act like an old lady!” With that, she dashed off. Akiko could just hear a stifled sob.

Akiko felt terrible the rest of the week. Her friend, Ryo, wasn’t talking to her, and what she had said truly hurt her. She thought often of the Youth Potion throughout the week, fantasizing about what it would be like if it worked. On Wednesday, she met up with another friend of hers. He was a short but muscular guy who Akiko had met in college. He had a round face prone to smiling, and wore his short dark hair in carefully managed spikes.

“Jin, nice to see you again.”

“And you, Akiko.” the man replied, getting his food from the cafeteria buffet line. “Would you like to eat together?”

“I would love to.”

The pair seated themselves at a table, ready to continue to conversation.

“Jin, do you think I look old?”

“Of course not. What gives you that idea?”

“Nothing. You’ve heard me talk about this before.”

Jin chuckled. “Yes, I remember. Trust me, you still look fine.”

Akiko remembered that Jin was a notorious practical joker. She had suspected him of sending the Youth Potion, and tried to extricate the truth from him. “Say, you play any of your jokes on anybody lately?”

“You could say that.” Jin said, with a slight grin.

“Really? On anyone I know?”

“Oh, you probably know her.”

“That’s interesting, because a girl I know seems to think you did something to her.”

“Hmm, I think I might know who you’re talking about. But sometimes... it only seems like a joke.” Jin winked at her, slurped up a final swath of noodles, then stood up to leave. “I’ll see you around, Akiko.”

The rest of the week was rather dull for Akiko. She spent the weekend studying, interrupted with musings about Ryo’s comment, or the mysterious conversation with Jin. She went to bed on Sunday very troubled indeed.

Asleep, Akiko started to dream. In it, she was going to class as usual. Everyone was giving her strange looks, and she didn’t know why. When she went to the bathroom, she saw herself in the mirror. She was an aged, forty-year old woman, with graying hair, wrinkles, and a fat belly. As she watched, the woman in the mirror aged rapidly, decaying before her very eyes. Her body bloated even further, the wrinkles multiplying. She became gaunt and stooped.

Akiko awoke from the nightmare with a start. She was cold with sweat. She tore the sheets off and looked down at herself. She was just as young as she was before, her smooth skin glistening with sweat. She heaved her breasts, making sure they weren’t the saggy ones she possessed in her dream. Akiko laid back down, trying to go to sleep. But she couldn’t get the image of the dream out of her head. In a moment of compulsion, she got up and walked to the kitchen. She seized the bottle of Youth Potion, and looked at it.

“But if it works...” she said, untwisting the cap. “The instructions said one year per capful. Simple enough. If I’m 23, then I’ll take four, to make me nineteen again. Yeah.”

She was dimly aware that she was talking to herself, but didn’t care. She poured the first capful and stared at the liquid. Unlike the bottle, the liquid inside was a green color. “What a sharp contrast,” she said, before looking at the capful for one more brief moment. With that, she brought the cap to her lips and swallowed the liquid down. It tasted somewhat fruity, and altogether pleasant. Akiko repeated this three more times, then put the cap back on the bottle and set it back down on the counter. She waited, wiggling her fingers in anticipation of something, anything, that was about to occur. Several tense minutes passed.

“Nothing.” She sighed and started to make her way back to the bedroom, dejected. As she made it to the doorway out of the kitchen, she started to feel light-headed. She backpedaled, resting her hand on the kitchen counter as her head started to spin. She started to fear that the potion was some kind of poison, but then, something happened. A tingling feeling worked its way from her stomach to the rest of her body, growing more intense as it traveled. It didn’t subside, and continued to course throughout her body. Akiko was overcome with the sensation, and fell to the floor. She began to feel warm throughout her entire body. She was then wracked with a peculiar shrinking feeling. It felt as though she was diminishing, shrinking to the size of a small animal. As suddenly as it came, the shrinking feeling subsided, and was replaced by a violently powerful tingle, this one centered on her breasts and crotch. It felt like an orgasm, but was different... and more intense. Everything stopped a few moments afterward, and Akiko lay on the floor, stunned. She didn’t move, and eventually fell asleep.

It was late at night when Akiko drank the potion, but it was almost midday when she awoke. She felt very weak, and couldn’t stand up at first. She eventually mustered the strength, and staggered out of the kitchen. She walked through her house in a daze, not really sure what was happening. Finding herself in the bathroom, Akiko didn’t realize she had walked anywhere at all. She remembered the potion, and wondered what had happened. Had she drank too much? What age was she now? She cleared her head and thought how stupid she must be. Obviously, it was no “Youth Potion”, but some kind of drug. Stupid, stupid. All the same, she turned to the full-length mirror, half expecting to see a younger herself. What she saw was a disheveled woman, wearing only her blue panties and bra. She didn’t see any sort of change. Peering closer to the mirror, she tried to see if any of her wrinkles had vanished, hoping that the potion had, at the very least, done that. Akiko examined her face closely. She blinked several times, then peered closer. To her, it seemed as the potion had affected her wrinkles! The mild lines stemming from Akiko’s eyes had definitely thinned, as far as she could tell.

“I must be imagining it...” muttered Akiko, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion and disbelief. Akiko suddenly became aware that it was rather bright outside, and she had class that day. She hurriedly ran to her clock. It read 12:30. Cursing to herself, Akiko stormed to her bedroom and hastily dressed herself. She then took a few minutes to make herself appear presentable, and dashed off to the campus.

As it turned out, Akiko only missed one semi-important lecture from the classes she had missed. She shrugged it off and resolved to get the notes from a classmate later. Still feeling a bit off from the “Youth Potion”, Akiko went home after her classes and went to bed early.

Akiko woke the next day, full of energy. She hummed a favorite tune throughout her morning routine, and went to class feeling better than she had in recent memory. Whatever was in that potion, she thought, it’s doing something.

Akiko felt in such a good mood that day, she decided to strike up a conversation with Ryo, after their more than week-long silence.

“Hey, Ryo, how’s it going?” began Akiko.

“Oh, hi, Akiko.” replied Ryo, seeming somewhat despondent.

“What’s wrong? You’re not still mad at me?”

“No, no! Of course not!” Ryo quickly said.

“Oh, okay. You want to go for a drink later tonight, then?” Akiko said, hoping she could abolish any hard feelings with a round or two of sake.

“A drink? Oh, well, uh. I mean, sure. What time?”

Akiko told her to meet her at a local bar at six. Ryo agreed, but with a bit of reluctance.

Ryo and Akiko met at the bar on time. Akiko immediately ordered a round of sake for the both of them. They drank, making idle chitchat, mainly about what had happened to one another since they had last talked.

During their second round of drinks, Ryo said, “Hey, Akiko, you look kinda different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t put my finger on it... but you just look different.”

Akiko thought of the damned potion, and said nothing until Ryo spoke again.

“You’re also acting kind of weird. Are you okay? You’re not coming down with something, are you?” Ryo asked, concerned.

“No, I feel fine. In fact, I feel great. Say...”

“What?”

Akiko smiled. “You still going to that convention?”

Ryo’s face split into a wide, childish grin. “You want to come?”

“Yeah. It’d be just like old times, right?”

Ryo squealed with joy and leaned over to hug her counterpart. “I knew you’d change your mind! I registered for two, just in case. Oh, but...”

“What is it?”

“You’ll need a costume, of course! Have you thought of what you want to be?”

“Oh, I don’t know... won’t it be hard to make a costume in a week?”

“Hmm.” Ryo said, deep in thought. “Oh, I know! There’s a costume I was working on, and I had most of it finished. You’d look great in it! It’s a costume of Smile, from Pop’n Music! We’d have to put some touches on it, but...” Ryo stopped, seeing the slightly confused expression on Akiko’s face.

“Wait, which one was he again?”

“You know, crazy-looking mummy guy. Blue skin, bandages, cool coat?”

A look of comprehension dawned on Akiko’s face. “Oh yeah, I remember him.” Akiko smirked at Ryo. “I’ve never cosplayed a guy before though.”

“Oh don’t you worry! Besides, he’s all the rage lately! You kinda look like him with that feathered hair of yours...” Ryo reached over and ruffled Akiko’s hair.

Akiko giggled, moving out of range of Ryo’s attack on her hair. “Stop that! It’s hard to get it like this.”

Ryo ceased her impromptu hair sabotage, stifling a giggle. “So you want to do it?”

Akiko shrugged and smiled, taking a sip from her sake before responding. “Sure, I’ll go as him. It’ll be great!”

The two enthusiastically discussed the upcoming event, making plans to go shopping for costume accessories the next day.

On Wednesday, Akiko felt even better than she had the day before. She was styling her hair in front of the mirror, singing happily. She tried imagining herself as Smile. “Ryo was right,” Akiko mused. “I do kinda look like him.” As Akiko continued to work her hair, she paused to look closer at her face. She couldn’t believe her eyes. The tiny wrinkles that had caused her so much grief throughout her recent years had vanished completely. She turned her face at every angle, and couldn’t detect their presence at all. Akiko was both pleased and frightened. If her wrinkles had disappeared, that meant that the potion was indeed working. She hoped it wouldn’t make her too young. In theory, losing a few years of age was a great thing, but was less so when one had to complete a few more months of college. It was hard enough as someone in their early twenties, much less as a teenager.

Akiko sat through her classes, her thoughts drifting from the Youth Potion to her planned afternoon shopping with Ryo. Eventually, she was free from her classes and met Ryo on the campus lawn.

“Ready?” Ryo said.

“Oh yeah. Let’s go,” Akiko answered.

Ryo had already made the coat to go with the costume, and Akiko had platform boots more or less similar to the character’s footwear. They shopped downtown for miscellaneous parts. The gloves were obtained from a store specializing in winter goods. The hair dye was obtained from a beauty parlor, as well as some makeup for the blue skin. They purchased a supply of bandages from a medical supply store. They found everything they needed, and then agreed to piece it together the next day.

As was becoming typical that week, Akiko had even more energy on Thursday. When choosing shoes for that day, she decided to be different and wear a pair of shoes she hadn’t worn in a long time. They were bright blue platform sneakers, with at least a five inch lift on them. She had worn platforms a lot when she was younger, as it was a popular style choice back then. She particularly enjoyed looking down on the guys she used to look up to, and enjoyed the feeling of confidence they gave her. She took a few practice steps in them, as walking in platforms was something one needed to be skilled at. After a few steps, she realized she was still good at walking in them. “Like riding a bike,” she said with a smile. Satisfied with her eclectic footwear, she went about her day.

Ryo was surprised to see Akiko when they first met that day. “Akiko! You grew!”

Akiko laughed at her friend’s obliviousness to her footwear choice. “Hardly! I’m wearing platform sneakers, Ryo!”

Ryo stared down at her feet. “Wow, I haven’t seen shoes like that since we were teenagers!”

Akiko winked at Ryo. “Well, I figure since we’re reliving old times with the cosplay, I’d relive old styles.”

“Gee Akiko, you’re acting like your old self again! I’m so happy! But, seriously, those shoes! They make you soooooo tall! You were a bit shorter when you were wearing those before! I feel awkward just standing here next to you!”

Akiko chuckled and wrapped her arm around Ryo, resting her chin on the top of Ryo’s head. “Well you better get used to it! The Smile costume is going to have eight inch plats!”

Ryo looked dizzy for a moment, but quickly giggled at the thought. Their conversation shifted to other things as they made plans for the next couple days. Like they promised, Ryo and Akiko went to Ryo’s house after school to try on the costume.

“As you know, the convention’s tomorrow, so we gotta do everything today.” Ryo said.

“I know. This is great that you can get all of this put together in such short notice, though!”

Ryo smiled slyly. “Well, I knew you’d change your mind, so I prepared some things in advance.”

Akiko was shown the coat Ryo had constructed. It was a near-perfect rendition of Smile’s outfit.

“Wow, Ryo! That’s incredible!” Akiko gushed.

“Oh, well, thank you!” Ryo said, blushing slightly.

“Well, try it on!”

Akiko shed her clothes and donned the heavy coat.

“It looks great on you! Here, there’s a mirror over here.” Ryo guided Akiko over to a full-length mirror to check herself out. It did look great on her. The coat complemented her tall figure well, and its low cut showed off her ample breasts appealingly. Ryo must have tailor made this outfit for her, as the hem came just down to her ankles. Akiko admired herself in the mirror for a few more moments before Ryo spoke.

“Now all we have to do is try on the bandages and do your hair.”

Akiko nodded. Ryo fetched the roll of bandages they had purchased, and instructed Akiko to remove the coat. “You’ll probably also want to go braless, or else it’ll mess up the bandages.” Ryo said, gesturing to Akiko’s bright red top. Akiko complied with some reluctance, and allowed Ryo to apply the bandages on her upper body and arms. Ryo then removed the strip of white bandage and measured it with a nearby meter stick. “Hmm. I don’t think we got enough bandages. There won’t be enough for a second application.” She looked at Akiko and giggled. “You’re just too busty, Akiko!”

Akiko smiled back at her, hefting her chest. “I guess I’ll be the bustiest mummy-guy at the convention then!”

Ryo waited for Akiko to put her clothes back on, then motioned for her to sit in a chair. “Okay, we’re going to have to bleach your hair pretty good before we put in the blue dye, because it’s so dark.”

“Yeah, I know. You’ve dyed my hair before, remember?”

Ryo looked blankly at a distant nothing for a moment, then seemed to come to. “Oh yeah, I guess I have! Well then, let’s get to work.”

And get to work she did. In a relatively short time, Ryo had bleached Akiko’s black hair, put in the blue dye, and styled it to almost perfectly imitate Smile’s hair. Next, they applied the makeup to her face, giving her the blue tone that would mimic the character. Her face absolutely glowed after they were done, Akiko seeing just how young and vibrant she looked. Were it not for the blue skin, she would have looked incredibly sexy. After admiring her handiwork for a brief moment, Ryo excitedly made Akiko try on the rest of the costume.

Standing in front of the mirror, Akiko thought to herself how well Ryo knew her stuff. Akiko looked just like a living, female Smile. The only thing missing were the platform boots, as she had left those at home. Her blue sneakers were a sharp contrast to the rest of the outfit. “It looks perfect, Ryo. Just wondering, but who are you going to cosplay as?”

Ryo smirked. “You’ll see.”

Akiko questioned her no further on this, and changed out of her costume, washing off the makeup. The dye job was more permanent, but Akiko didn’t mind. Blue was her favorite color, after all! The pair briefly discussed things, most notably the convention next day, before Akiko left for her house.

Akiko was too excited about the convention on Friday that she wasn’t thinking of the effects of the Youth Potion. However, when she was getting dressed that morning, she was reminded. She had put on her bra, and noticed that it seemed to be slightly larger than usual. Thinking it was just a defective bra, she discarded it and tried on another. It, too, was mildly oversized. Akiko, worried, hefted her breasts in her hands. They were definitely smaller than normal.

“I’m still getting younger...” Akiko murmured to herself. She looked like she did when she was eighteen. Hoping that her regression would stop soon, she got dressed and headed to school.

Halfway through the day, when Akiko was starting to get angry at her ill-fitting bra, she saw Ryo on one of the college’s lawns. She seemed depressed about something.

Akiko approached her. “Something wrong, Ryo?”

Ryo looked at her with swollen, moist eyes. “It’s, it’s...” She paused for a moment, as if what she had to say was painful for her to say. “TMR’s not going to be at the convention.” Ryo burst into a fresh wave of tears.

“Oh, it’s all right...” Akiko said, comforting her companion. “It’ll still be lots of fun...”

Ryo nodded, and wiped her eyes dry. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know why I should have believed him...”

“What’s that?

“Somebody told me TMR was going to be there. I checked their program schedule today and it didn’t say anything about him. I can’t believe he tricked me...”

Akiko had nothing to say but vague condolences. The two left for their respective classes and met up later that afternoon to head to the convention.

Ryo cheered up considerably on the trip to the convention center, beginning to speak excitedly about the upcoming event. The pair arrived at their hotel, and checked in. After putting away their things, they went to work putting on Akiko’s costume. Everything went fine, until Ryo was done putting on the bandages on Akiko’s chest.

“Strange...”

“What?”

“This is the exact same strip I put on you yesterday, and I put it on the exact same way, but there’s way more extra gauze this time. Are you okay? It’s not too tight, is it?” Ryo said, her voice becoming panicky.

“No, it’s fine.”

“I wonder why there’s so much extra bandage...”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright.”

Ryo finished applying the bandages, and Akiko put on the rest of the accessories: makeup, earrings, miscellaneous jewelry, gloves, and the large platform boots missing from yesterday’s dressing session. She hadn’t worn the boots in years, and they felt a little loose around her feet. She figured it must have stretched a little since last time, and stood up for Ryo to check her out.

Ryo was awestruck by the imagery. “Oh my...you look so beautiful! And...huge! Couldn’t you wear smaller boots?”

Akiko stepped closer to Ryo, looking down on her. “Smile’s not a short one Ryo! This really makes me look imposing, don’t you think?”

Ryo nodded, a blank look on her face. Akiko was relishing the perspective, one she hadn’t had in quite some time. Ryo blinked for another moment before snapping out of her trance, picking up a couple bags she had brought with her.

“I’m going to put on my costume now, be right back.” Ryo said, retreating to the bathroom with the bags.

After about half an hour, Ryo emerged from the bathroom. She was dressed in an impressive Ryoko (from Tenchi Muyo) costume, with the character’s blue and pink outfit. She was wearing a bright green wig, styled into believable spikes. Ryo had recreated nearly every detail, down to an authentic-looking earring, and the amber-colored contact lenses.

“Oh my, Ryo... you look terrific!”

Ryo blushed, and twirled around a bit. “I thought it would be fun, plus my name’s so similar to hers, it seemed like a natural choice.”

Without any further conversation, Ryo and Akiko headed off to the convention center, which was a few blocks from the hotel. As they walked, Akiko began to acknowledge how beautiful Ryo was. Her normal, plain clothing didn’t show it well, but she had a slim, attractive body. Akiko also realized that even though Ryo was a year older than she used to be, she had very smooth, vibrant skin.

Even outside the entrance to the convention, the pair was stopped continually for pictures. They gladly posed for any, especially enjoying the lusty stares of the fanboys. Akiko noticed with some satisfaction that she was looking over the heads of quite a few people, none coming close to her sole-enhanced height. The convention was in full force as they entered. Everywhere, there were people dressed up as anime and videogame characters. A portly Lum cosplayer spoke animatedly to a man dressed in a cheap-looking Rockman costume. Troupes of high school-age girls were masquerading as Sailor Scouts. Akiko started to count the Yuna costumes, but quickly gave up.

“Wow, this is great!” gushed Ryo. The two watched the procession of people moving about for a few more minutes, before being greeted by a plain-looking young man, wearing normal clothing.

“What are you supposed to be?” asked Ryo condescendingly.

“Maybe a Shinji?” Akiko replied, eliciting giggles from her companion.

“Ha, very funny. Actually, I don’t dress up for these things; I just come to take pictures.” The young man replied, lifting a camera. “Might I get your pictures?”

The two women said yes, and struck a variety of poses for the photographer.

“Thanks. Great costumes, by the way.” He flashed them a smile and left.

“Nice guy.” Akiko remarked. “Hey, let’s go by the dealer’s room real quick.”

On their way to the dealer’s room, an announcement came over the building’s speakers.

“Attention, cosplayers. We have an important announcement to make. Tomorrow at 6:00 PM, our esteemed guest TM Revolution will be holding a concert in the convention center’s auditorium.”

This announcement was followed by a great amount of confusion and fangirl squealing. Those in charge of the announcements seemed to have anticipated this, however, and after a few moments it began again.

“TMR requested that his presence at the convention be kept secret until now as a sort of surprise.”

Ryo was beside herself with joy. She kept jumping up and down saying “TMR! Tomorrow! Yay!” Akiko played along with Ryo’s enthusiasm, but couldn’t help wondering about the eccentricity of the musician’s decision.

They spent the rest of the day conversing with fellow cosplayers, shopping at the dealer’s room, and attending the occasional panel. Akiko was constantly distracted by the cameras and atmosphere of the convention that she hardly noticed the bandages on her chest become looser and looser as the day went on. When the two returned to the hotel room at the end of the day and removed their costumes, Akiko saw how slack the bandages had become and gasped. Ryo hadn’t noticed her, so she slipped into the bathroom quickly to look at her chest. Her breasts were still quite large. However, it was obvious to her that they were decreasing in size, though she still had a very adult chest. “I hope this doesn’t last any longer,” she whispered to herself. “I don’t want to have to explain this to Ryo.”

Akiko stepped back out of the bathroom, not wanting to discover any other changes that might have overcome her. She saw Ryo lying on her bed, wearing only her underwear. She was fast asleep. Her costume was piled on the floor next to the bed. Sheesh, thought Akiko. If I turn into a child, I don’t want this kid taking care of me. She gently threw a blanket over the slumbering Ryo, changed into a nightgown and got into her own bed.

Akiko awoke to an excited Ryo hurrying her awake. “Come on! TMR’s today! Hurry! We have to get a good place for the concert!”

“What time is it?” Akiko mumbled, groping about as if she might find an alarm clock.

“Nine.”

“Nine? Nine?! Are you serious? The concert doesn’t start until six!”

“Yeah, well. I was just too excited!” Ryo explained sheepishly.

“Fine, fine.” Akiko said, sitting up. She looked around. Her costume had been neatly piled next to her bed, and she noted that Ryo had already donned hers. Rolling out of bed, she looked up to see Ryo standing over her, holding the strip of white bandage.

“Ready to put your costume on?”

“Hold on. Let me go to the bathroom first.”

Akiko went into the bathroom to freshen up, trying to avoid looking at her chest. She came out, shed her nightgown, and started putting on parts of her costume. She turned to the waiting Ryo to apply the bandages to her torso. Ryo skillfully wound the white strip up and down Akiko, the same way she had done before. When she was done, she found herself holding an even longer extraneous length of gauze than the last day.

“Why is there so much extra bandage?” Ryo asked. “Are you sure this isn’t too tight?”

“No, it’s perfect.”

“But this extra length...” Ryo said, sounding genuinely worried.

“Don’t worry about it.” Akiko reassured. Changing the topic suddenly to deflect her friend’s concern, she said, “So, how do we get in to the TMR concert? Do you suppose there’s some sort of registration?”

“Oh, you’re right! I bet there is!” Ryo said. “We better get down there quick! Hurry up, put on your costume!”

Akiko complied, and the two soon found themselves walking at a brisk pace toward the convention center. As it happened, there was no registration of any sort required, but there was already the beginning of a line forming in front of the auditorium.

“Oh! A line! Okay, I’ll keep our place in line, and you can do whatever.”

“What? Are you sure? It’s going to be another seven hours, at least, before they let anyone in.”

“Doesn’t matter. Go ahead, but make sure to come back, I’ll get hungry!”

Akiko shrugged her shoulders resignedly, and left her friend to camp the line. She spent the early part of the day wandering about the convention, posing for frequent photos. At lunchtime, she stopped by a restaurant and bought lunch for herself and Ryo. The two ate in relative silence, neither having much interesting to say about the day. After Akiko left her companion, she went straight to a dressing room. The bandages on her chest had become progressively looser throughout the day, as she had feared. She pulled the bandages forward and looked down at her breasts. They were still shrinking, no doubt about that. She had also been bothered lately by her coat and boots. They seemed to fit on her strangely now. Akiko pulled off the bandages and tried to reapply them tighter. She found that it was impossible without a partner. Holding her piece of bandage, she looked about the room for someone who might help her. There were none.

Akiko waited for about five minutes before a woman dressed as Etna from Disgaea came into the dressing room. She seemed to have a slight tear in the tail accessory of her costume.

“Excuse me.” Akiko said. “Could you help me?”

“Sure, what do you need?” asked the woman good-naturedly.

Akiko explained what she needed done, and the Etna cosplayer did it for her. Akiko thanked her, and left. She spent the next few hours hanging around the art gallery they had set up, having more photos of herself taken, and admiring the other costumers there. She was surprised to find that more than a few people were coming up to her height now, even with her platforms. There were still a large percentage of people she met that she towered over, but she wondered if her breasts weren’t the only thing that were shrinking. At 5:00, she met back with Ryo, who was now near the beginning of what had become a very large line. Ryo looked more excited than Akiko had ever seen her.

She could hardly speak, mainly gasping, “TMR! Soon!”

In a few minutes, the doors to the auditorium opened and the crowd eagerly surged in. Ryo and Akiko, being near the front of the line, were assured places near the stage. A great, noisy din soon filled the chamber as fans poured in. Soon enough, the concert began.

Akiko and Ryo watched the show with enthusiasm, dancing and jumping along with the music. TMR played five songs in a row, then took a short break. During the pause, Akiko noticed a young man dressed as Vash the Stampede leering at her chest. When she looked his way, he blushed and looked away instantly. Akiko didn’t think much of it until Ryo spoke.

“Akiko!” She whispered, pointing to Akiko’s chest. Akiko looked down, and saw that the bandages on her torso had become very loose, from a combination of her shrinking and the amount of jumping she did during the concert. They had become so loose, and her coat was now resting so low on her body, that one of her nipples was clearly exposed.

“Ack!” she gasped, throwing her hands over her chest.

“I’m sorry, Akiko!” Ryo pleaded. “I should have told you to wear a bra! We’ll fix you up after the show, alright?”

Akiko just nodded, and watched the rest of the concert while holding the slack bandages to her chest.

After the concert, the two retreated to a dressing room. On the walk there, Ryo could not stop apologizing for suggesting Akiko not wear a bra, and Akiko accepted her apologies while telling her it was not her fault. Ryo re-tightened Akiko’s bandages at the dressing room, and they spent the rest of the evening conversing with other con-goers about the concert, watching the costume competitions, and fruitlessly searching about to see if TM Revolution stuck around the premises.

They arrived back at their hotel a little after midnight, exhausted. At once, Ryo fell onto her bed and fell asleep. Akiko quickly shed her costume in favor of a nightgown, and went to her own bed after washing off the makeup.

Without the promise of a TMR concert to rouse her, Ryo slumbered peacefully while Akiko woke at about 9:30. Letting her friend rest, Ryo decided to take a quick shower. Letting the water pour over her, Akiko decided to scrutinize the changes to her body. Running her hands over her bosom, she was surprised to find how much it had shrunk. Formerly a D cup, she estimated that she had lost an entire cup in cleavage. Though they had lost mass, Akiko noted how perky and vibrant they seemed. Taking stock of the rest of her body, Akiko found that she had become quite slimmer, especially in her butt. The curviness of her figure had dimmed somewhat, as her hips had lessened. She got out of the shower and approached the mirror. Wiping steam off it, she was greeted with the youthful face of a sixteen-year-old. She raised a hand to her face, to confirm if it was real. She had changed so much! Her face had regained the youthful complexion of a high-schooler, and her eyes sported the unquantifiable innocence of that age. She wondered if Ryo would notice. Probably not, she thought. She always was a bit spacy.

Akiko stepped out of the bathroom in a bathrobe, and checked to see if Ryo was awake. She wasn’t. Akiko waited for about half an hour for her to do so, then opted to wake her. Ryo rolled over and murmured quietly. After a few minutes, she sat up, bleary-eyed.

“Morning, Akiko. What time is it?”

“About eleven, I’d say.”

“Huh. Well, let’s get some breakfast. I’m going to go wash up.”

Ryo went into the bathroom and Akiko could hear sounds of water being splashed. She came out a few minutes later, and the two got dressed. They went for breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, and then went back to their room to change into their costumes.

Akiko put on her costume, suddenly self-conscious of how her immature body looked in it. She was surprised that Ryo hadn’t said anything yet. However, trouble came again when it was time to put on Akiko’s costume’s bandages.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wear a bra this time?” Ryo asked.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Akiko replied, remembering that none of her bras would fit her very well anymore.

“Alright, if you say so.” Ryo said resignedly, finishing up the job. She was left with even more excess bandage than before. “Seriously, Akiko, why am I ending up with more gauze every day?”

Akiko took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“What? What do you mean? You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Listen...”

“Please, tell me.”

“Okay, I want you to promise you won’t laugh, because I’m telling the truth.” Ryo nodded, which was good enough for Akiko. “A couple weeks ago, I got a weird package on my doorstep. It was a bottle of some liquid, and it said it was a ?Youth Potion’.” I thought it was a joke, and didn’t think much of it. Later, though, I drank some. Ever since, I’ve been getting younger.” Akiko saw the disbelieving look on Ryo’s face, and added, “Really.”

“I don’t know, Akiko... maybe you’re just imagining it?”

“No! Ryo, the reason I went to this convention with you is because I took that potion. I felt like I had more energy, because I was getting younger. The reason the bandage has been getting looser is because, well, they’ve been shrinking.” She pointed to her chest.

“What? No way!” Ryo denied, but took a closer look at Akiko’s chest. “Oh my God! They have! I must be stupid not to notice!”

“Now look at my face.” Akiko instructed.

“You look just like you did back in high school!” Ryo blurted.

“Told you.” Akiko said, smiling.

Ryo spoke as though she hadn’t heard Akiko. “So, how old do you think you are now? How young will you get? How does it work? Where can I get some? What does it taste like?”

“Easy! I think I’m sixteen now. And I don’t know how young I’m going to get. I thought I took enough to make me only nineteen, but it looks to be continuing. I might get much younger.” She paused, and seemed to consider something. “Ryo, I have to ask you something.” Ryo nodded. “If I get really young, too young, will you help me out? Like, tell people a story for where I’ve been, and help me buy fitting clothes and stuff?”

“Yeah, sure.” Ryo said casually. “Just as long as you let me have some of the potion.”

Akiko chuckled. “Sure thing. I got a whole bottle of it back at home.”

Ryo’s face brightened. “Well then, let’s get the rest of our costumes on and go to the con!”

Akiko nodded, and they resumed getting her costume ready. As she applied the blue face make-up, Akiko couldn’t help but notice that she had lost the sexy quality of her face, seeming to look cuter than anything. Her skin still glowed and appeared soft with the make-up on, but it was missing something, making her look less like the Smile she had seen in the mirror when she first put it on. She finished in a hurry, then went with Ryo out of the room and into the con.

Akiko suddenly felt very insecure at the convention. She was painfully aware of her reduced assets and increasingly girlish figure. It seemed to her that Ryo was getting the greater share of attention from the cameras that day. Her coat fitted strangely on her, and seemed to be rather cumbersome. Her platform boots also felt heavy throughout the entire day, and were slipping on her feet. What was worse, her bandages were still getting looser.

Later in the afternoon, a middle-aged man, dressed in plain clothes, approached the pair. “Excuse me, ladies, but could I get a picture?”

“Only on the condition that you tell us what you’re costuming as,” replied Ryo.

The man gave a slight chuckle. “Oh, I stopped wearing my costume yesterday.”

“And what was your costume?”

“Sailor Moon.”

Ryo and Akiko decided not to question him further, and posed for a photograph.

“I hope you don’t mind me prying, ladies, but are you two sisters?”

They stared at him blankly for a moment before Ryo answered, “Yes, we are! I’m Ryo, and this is my little sister Akiko!” She embraced her companion in a hug.

“Ah, that’s what I thought. The family resemblance is astounding. And it’s nice to see that you get along, despite your age difference,” said the man, and left.

“What a dumb old fool, huh?” said Ryo, turning to look up at Akiko. “We don’t look at all like sisters.”

“Then why’d you tell him we were?”

Ryo looked thoughtful for a moment. “I dunno. Maybe because I’m starting to think of you as a younger sister.”

Akiko chose not to reply to that, but instead wondered how that man could think Akiko was the younger one. Despite her youthful face, she thought she seemed older than Ryo, what with her height and reserved mannerisms. She certainly wasn’t a “little” sister. Then she realized she wasn’t that much taller than Ryo these days. She noted with some satisfaction that she still had a good six inches on her. She paused. She looked down at her feet, realizing that she was wearing her large platform boots that gave her a rough eight inches in height, in contrast with Ryo’s thin-soled sandals.

Oh my god, thought Akiko. I’m shorter than Ryo now. Hopefully she won’t notice...

Akiko recalled that she had enjoyed quite the growth spurt during her late teen years. She dimly realized that she definitely wasn’t enjoying it in reverse. If she tried, she couldn’t put her chin on Ryo’s head like she had done before. The people at the convention all seemed to loom higher, and the imposing, beautiful Smile she had started the convention as had been reduced to a cute, unthreatening cosplayer. Ryo remained oblivious to Akiko’s insecurities, and the two spent another few hours at the convention before heading to their room.

They returned to their room to shuck off their costumes and don their normal clothes, and to check out from the hotel. During the walk down to the front desk, Ryo noticed it.

“Wait a sec, Akiko... stand right there for a moment.”

Akiko stopped walking and looked to face her friend, hoping this wasn’t what she thought it was.

“No, stand still for a second, yeah, like that...”

Akiko felt Ryo press herself upon her back. She couldn’t feel, see, or hear Ryo’s hand measuring the height difference between the two, but she knew it was there.

Ryo spun around and grabbed Akiko. “Akiko! You’re shorter than me now! That’s amazing!”

Akiko blushed a little. “Just by a bit...”

“This is so weird! Ever since I’ve know you, you’ve been way taller than me! This is great! You really are my little sister now!”

“Heh, I guess so...” Akiko replied, more than a little embarrassed.

“Well, let’s get going, ?Shorty’!” Ryo exclaimed, leading them towards the lobby again. She seemed to enjoy her friend’s new stature, and would often pause to pat her on the head, or look at her, only to giggle when Akiko had to glance upwards ever so slightly to meet her eyes. This continued throughout the entire trip back to their homes, with Akiko threatening more than once to put her boots back on. Ryo smiled back at her and stopped, but resumed later on. Finally they were back near the college. They stood by Akiko’s home, saying their goodbyes.

“Say, Akiko...” Ryo said.

“Yeah?”

“Are you planning on going to class tomorrow?”

“I am. Why?”

“I wouldn’t, if I were you. You’ve really changed these past few days; people will notice.”

“Wow, you actually said something rational for once.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. Well, see you later. I’ll stop by tomorrow to see how you’re doing, alright?”

“Sure, sounds great. Thanks, see ya!” Akiko finished, waving to her friend and heading into her house. It was quite late, so she headed immediately to her bedroom. She paused to look at herself in the mirror. Having not worn her normal clothes for a couple days, she was surprised to see how poorly they fit. Her chic red shirt, normally skintight, was loose on her, as if it were a few sizes too large. Her jeans had become too long for her shortened legs, and the ends of them enveloped her shoeless feet. She noticed with annoyance that they had been slightly frayed at the ends, as she had been walking around in them. Sighing, Akiko stripped off her clothes to go to bed. Looking down at her chest, she sighed again. Her bra, a D-cup, looked out of place on her diminished breasts. It sagged uselessly, providing no support. Akiko flipped the light switch and went to bed.

Akiko woke up early the next day, though she had no reason to. She promptly inspected her body for any signs of continued regression. Sure enough, her chest had receded slightly, and she was convinced that she had gotten shorter. She grabbed a selection of clothes and stomped into the bathroom.

Taking a more thorough look at herself, Akiko found that her ass had lessened, and her hips had receded, removing much of her curvy figure. She began putting on her clothes, and looked in dismay at the extra space in her bra. She then glanced over and saw a roll of tissue paper. No, she thought. She looked back to her chest for a long moment, then grabbed the roll. Tearing off strip after strip and stuffing them into her bra, Akiko couldn’t help but feel foolish. As soon as she had filled her bra with the tissue, she definitely felt foolish. She looked at her reflection, with its bra brimming with white tissue, and reassured herself that it would look better when she put her shirt on. Akiko finished dressing, and admired her work in the mirror. It looked as though she had her old bust back, although they were slightly uneven. Fiddling with them a bit, Akiko pronounced herself satisfied and went to her shoe closet. She browsed through it until she found a particular pair of boots with a generous six inch platform on them. She reasoned that that was about how much height she had lost, plus a little more so people wouldn’t notice. She slipped the boots on, noticing a large amount of space between the back of her feet and the boots. Reaching for the roll of tissue again, she stuffed the toe until the boots fit comfortably. Satisfied that her boots weren’t slipping, she headed downstairs.

Akiko spent most of the day watching daytime trash television, eating, and occasionally studying her notes. Later in the afternoon, Ryo stopped by, as she had promised. Greeting her at the door, Akiko let her in. At once, Ryo looked in shock at Akiko, who was standing slightly taller than her again. She then looked down at Akiko’s boots.

“Oh,” she whined, “you’re supposed to be shorter than me.”

“I’m sorry, Ryo, your ?big sister’ complex can wait.”

Ryo fumed a bit, then noticed Akiko’s inflated chest. “Wow! They got bigger! How did that happen?”

Akiko began fumbling with an explanation, while Ryo leaned over and began prodding her in the chest. “What the?” Said Ryo. “You’re not...”

“I am.” Akiko said sheepishly.

“Well, whatever works for ya.” Ryo said with usual exuberance. “So, how have you been?”

“Alright, I guess. I’m still getting younger.”

“Do you know when it will stop?”

Akiko shook her head. “All I know is it had better stop soon; I can’t afford to get much younger.”

Ryo nodded. “You should let me see your Youth Potion.”

Akiko led her to the kitchen, where she had the potion stored in a cupboard. She took it out and handed it to her friend.

“Ooh, pretty. Did it come with any instructions?” Ryo asked, turning the bottle over in her hands.

“It did, but I can’t find them. I must have thrown them away. It said something about one capful for a year, so I drank four capfuls.”

“Hmm.” was all Ryo could say.

“Maybe if we take it down to a chemist or something, they could figure it out.” Akiko offered.

“No! I have a better idea! A friend of mine knows a guy downtown who’s supposed to be a magician! He would probably know!”

“A magician?” Akiko replied with some skepticism.

“Look, if you’re dealing with a potion that makes you grow younger, I think it’s possible that this guy’s a magician.” Ryo said, suddenly sounding angry.

“Alright, alright. So we go see this magician.”

“Okay, let’s go!” Ryo said, suddenly cheery again.

The trek to the magician didn’t take as long as Akiko expected, but her platformed feet still felt sore when she got there. Her legs seemed to lack the muscularity she developed from lifting the heavy soles. The impact was more of an annoyance than a problem, but she knew she’d have a hard time lifting these boots if her regression continued.

They were in front of a small shop. Its narrow entrance was ringed by several mysterious hanging objects, and it was too dark to see what was inside. The two cautiously stepped inside, taking in the curious odor that hung in the air. Behind a counter sat an old Chinese man, looking every bit the stereotypical ancient wise man. He had a long white beard, crinkly eyes, and bushy eyebrows. As Akiko and Ryo stood, looking at the various items strewn about the walls, he spoke.

“Can I help you?”

Akiko looked startled, and answered the man. “Uh, eh, actually, you can. Do you know what this is?” She asked, extending the bottle of Youth Potion towards him.

He took it delicately, and surveyed it for a moment. He opened it, and smelled inside. “Ah yes, this is definitely a Youth Potion.” He looked at her piercingly. “And I assume you sampled some?”

“Yes, I did.” Akiko said, slightly embarrassed.

“I see.”

“I’d like to know how to reverse it!” Akiko blurted.

“Hmm, yes, you would. Tell me, how much did you drink?”

“Uh, four capfuls.”

“Where there any instructions with this bottle?”

“Yes, but I don’t have them.”

“Ah, I see. Well, come back tomorrow and I’ll see if I can help you.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“Well, I must analyze it. I’ll know by then.” replied the old man. With a wave, he bade goodbye to them.

Akiko and Ryo walked back together, and Ryo said she wouldn’t be able to stop by the next day, on account of a large test she had the next day that needed studying for.

Akiko was optimistic about the old man, wanting to skip home were it not for her choice of footwear. She had so much energy! She checked her clock and saw that it was still early in the afternoon. She wanted to go out and do something, but wondered where she could go. She didn’t want to risk going to her usual hangouts for fear of being recognized in her condition. Then she realized that if she was a teenager, she might as well go to teenager places. She considered her current outfit. Surely she wouldn’t fit in well with high schoolers if she wore the mature, fashionable clothing she had as an adult. She wondered if she had anything that would be appropriate...

Then she remembered! She had kept it, more for posterity than anything, in a box in her closet. She raced to her bedroom, and retrieved the brown box. Opening it, she was greeted with an old sight: that of her freshman-year high school uniform. Pulling the pieces out, Akiko found that it was all there: the sailor top, the skirt, and even the loose socks. She also found that a pair of panties and a bra were in there, white and adorned with the small ribbon. Setting the box down on the floor, Akiko began to undress. Looking down, she regarded her overstuffed bra, then the uniform top. She concluded that if the disguise were to work, she’d have to abandon her artificial cleavage. With some reluctance, she shed the bra and all its wadded-up tissue paper, and adopted the conservative white one from the box. She found that it fit much better than her old bra had in the past few days, but thought it unflattering. She put on the rest of the outfit, and turned to the mirror.

Akiko looked every bit the fourteen-year-old schoolgirl that she now was, physically if not mentally. Despite her dislike of being regressed this far, Akiko had to admit that the uniform looked good on her. Her flyaway hair (which was still dyed blue) went well with the uniform’s green color scheme. To complete the disguise, Akiko swapped her boots in for a pair of girly looking platform sneakers that had a lower, four-inch boost. She was reminded of the number of shoe sizes she had lost when she had to transfer the tissue from her boots to her sneakers to make them fit. Still insecure about her chest, she stuffed some tissue paper in before she left.

Though she thought it would be difficult, Akiko returned to the world of teenage mingling quite easily. All afternoon, she socialized with high schoolers who were at the same places she would frequent when she was a student. Occasionally she would be asked where she was from, haven’t seen you before, and she would answer that she was just visiting from somewhere else. Later she was invited to a party by an older student. She normally wouldn’t have considered such a young boy attractive, but was now smitten by him. She blushingly accepted the seventeen-year-old’s offer.

At the party, Akiko was somewhat disappointed. She was expecting to have rows of guys chatting with her and offering her drinks in a hope to get her drunk. Instead, she only enjoyed the lusty stares of the boy who invited her there. Akiko realized that she probably wasn’t fourteen anymore, and was probably closer to the physical age of thirteen, accounting for the lack of interest from the guys. She felt small, insecure, and weak. Deflecting her companion’s advances, Akiko made an excuse to head home.

It was late, and Akiko was more than slightly drunk from the two servings of sake she had accepted. She made her way back to her house eventually, stumbling about and confused. Akiko walked into her living room, planning on making it to the stairs to head to her bedroom. However, she collapsed on the floor and passed out first.

Akiko opened her eyes some time later, and blearily looked around the room. To her, everything looked like a blur, so she closed her eyes. Before falling asleep again, she thought she heard an unusual whirring noise.

Akiko awoke again later, and could see much more clearly. She simply lay there for a few moments before realizing she was lying on her stomach in the middle of her living room, wearing a schoolgirl’s uniform no less. She quickly scrambled to her feet, and gasped. Standing in front of her was one of the last people she expected (or hoped) to see.

“Chiaki?!” Akiko screeched, painfully aware of how childish her voice had begun to sound.

“The same.” Chiaki said smugly. “I should be the one incredulous of whom I’m addressing, though.” Chiaki’s second statement had the air of a comment one had been thinking of saying for a long time.

Akiko stared at her blankly. She noted, with extreme displeasure, that Chiaki was quite a bit taller than her now. She started down at her feet and realized she had somehow slipped off her platforms during the night before. She never felt more like wearing them than right now.

“Ryo sent me to make sure you’re okay and all that. I don’t know what I’m going to have to tell her, what with you passed out on your floor here.”

Akiko stared blankly again before looking back up at Chiaki and speaking. “What time is it?”

“Oh, about noon. I skipped class to come here, but that’s not important. How are you enjoying your second childhood? I heard that Asians don’t age well, but it looks like I was quite wrong.”

“Laugh all you want, Chiaki.” Akiko adjusted her skirt. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get changed.”

“Okay.” Chiaki said with a trace of a smile. “But you’d like to see this.” She held up a digital camera.

Akiko looked at the device apprehensively. “You didn’t...”

“I did. Several, in fact. Here, let me show this one. It’s pretty good, nice lighting and angle.” She fiddled with the camera and showed Akiko the preview screen.

It wasn’t the lighting and angle that Akiko was concerned about. It was a photograph of Akiko lying on the floor, as she was just a minute ago, and was very unflattering. Her mouth was agape, her hair disheveled, and her skirt was flipped up, exposing her white panty clad butt. “Chiaki!” She whined, looking up at her.

“I got all sorts of them, with you in all kinds of poses. They’ll be fun to look back on,” Chiaki said with a laugh.

Akiko looked at her, blood boiling. She made a wild grab for the camera, but Chiaki deftly moved it up out of Akiko’s reach. She brought her other arm down and grabbed Akiko’s arm.

“Bad girl,” Chiaki mocked, easily twisting Akiko’s arm behind her back. She put the camera down behind her, then proceeded to flip up Akiko’s skirt and give her one good thwack on the bottom. She pushed her away then grabbed the camera again. “See ya, little girl.” Chiaki laughed, and walked out the door, still with the camera.

Akiko was still rubbing her hindquarters as her “friend” left. Bitch, she thought. With that thought firmly in her mind, she went to get changed. In her bedroom, Akiko eagerly stripped off the uniform. She looked at herself in the mirror dejectedly. Her entire body seemed to have thinned considerably, leaving little evidence of the womanly curves she had sported only a few days before. Her breasts looked puny even in her smaller bra; she believed they had shrunk to a low B cup. Akiko sighed, and got out some clothes to put on. She slipped on a pair of pants, but found the legs of them extended a few inches past her feet, and the waist was rather loose. She grabbed a belt, put it on, and went to get the boots she wore as Smile to make up for her increasing shortness. As she started to zip up the formerly calf-high boots, she realized that they were now a bit above her knees. She was glad she was wearing pants; otherwise the boots would have looked weird. She moved her feet inside the boots, then sighed, having forgotten to stuff them with tissue. She did so, then turned to appraise the rest of her. Knowing that the bras in her dresser would be far too large for her now, Akiko continued to wear the one she found along with her uniform. Before tossing on a shirt, she jammed a few handfuls of tissue in her bra.

Akiko walked to the old man’s shop, somewhat clumsily in her tall-soled boots. Even with the addition of tissue, her feet were getting too small for her old footwear. She dare not step out of them though, as she grasped desperately to the viewpoint she had become accustomed to for so many years. She tried to put the thought in the back of her head that this was the tallest pair of boots she owned, and if she got any smaller, no amount of platform would bring that back. Despite her best efforts, she started thinking about how she looked, this girl who was barely a teenager, walking along in oversized clothes and gigantic boots. Her mind was confused, for she was wearing these big boots and wasn’t really any taller than before. She became self-conscious of other people’s stares in the street, and tried to rush quickly to her destination. More than once she almost tripped, the practice and expertise she had as an adult slipping away for the clumsiness and inexperience of a child. Finally, she arrived. She stepped into the store, and was immediately greeted by the proprietor.

“Ah, you’re here. We have much to discuss.” He motioned to a stool by the counter, and Akiko sat on it. Akiko started to feel her boots slide off her feet, but cancelled the motion by quickly jamming her boots onto the stool’s supports. He looked at her for a moment, taking her in. “I see the potion is still taking its effects. Let me ask you: can you remember what the instructions that came with the potion said?”

“Er, they said something about one capful will reverse a year.”

The old man looked at her, and inhaled deeply. “I’m afraid that those instructions lied to you. I have discerned that this particular formula will always regress its imbiber to an approximate one-fourth their age. Taking more of it will speed up the process, but the destination is always the same. From the dosage you took, it looks like you are going slightly faster than a year a day.”

“Can you reverse it?” Akiko asked quickly.

Again the old man took a deep breath. “I’m afraid not,” he said, and seeing the look on Akiko’s face, quickly continued, “Not right now. I have to know the exact formula of this potion to make an antidote. If you can find where this was purchased, or who brewed it, I can help you.”

Akiko looked at him evenly for a moment. “But how can I do that?”

“Ask yourself: who would send me something like this? There are other shops like mine about, perhaps they made it.” He again looked at her, concentrating. “You used to go to the college here, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then get in touch with my grandson, he will help you. His name is Jin.”

“Jin? Short, stocky guy? Has got kind of a mustache?”

The old man nodded.

“I know him. Alright, I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Thank you.” Akiko said, and the man nodded. She left for the park, to think about things.

Akiko sat on the bench, running suspects through her head. Could it be Chiaki? She enjoyed Akiko’s transformation quite a bit, maybe she initiated it. Maybe Ryo? She wanted her to come to the convention so much. She even enjoyed having a “little sister” around. Perhaps it was Jin? He did mention something about a practical joke that wasn’t really a practical joke. Or it could have been someone else, for some inscrutable reason. Her thoughts turned to what the old man had said. She was going to be six years old before this ended, if they didn’t find the antidote. Akiko sighed, resigning herself to her fate. They’d find an antidote and she’d be ok. There was nothing to worry about except the impending regression. She looked around the park, watching children play.

All day long, Akiko could almost feel herself shrinking. She was quite aware that she was gradually getting shorter as the day went on, and that her bust was deflating rapidly. Evening approached, and she headed for home. As she was making her way home from the park, she realized how difficult it was for her to balance on her boots, and she had to walk slowly to avoid falling. She experienced the curious sensation of the boots crawling up her legs, and their weight becoming a burden on her feet. When at a crowded street corner, a salaryman brushed passed Akiko and caused her to fall, landing hard on her bottom. The man apologized, and helped her up. After that, Akiko chose to take off the boots and walk home barefoot.

Without her boots, she realized how short she now was. The eight inches she had lost before, coupled with today’s shrinking, had placed her in a world of giants. She had to constantly look up to meet people’s eyes. She passed several young children, noticing how high up they came on her. Akiko stared at the cumbersome boots in her hands, longing for the illusion of height they granted her, but knew she was getting too young for it. Her feet were just too small, and the boots too heavy for her to be able to walk in them, and it was only becoming more apparent with every year lost. They even felt heavy in her hands. She began to fear that someone she knew would see her in her diminished state, and quickly rushed home to avoid such a scenario.

Akiko was expecting a visit from Ryo in the evening, but it never came. Spending the night in solitude, Akiko went to bed early. She looked at her face in the mirror and hardly recognized it. It was rounder, more fresh-looking, and her nose had readopted the round shape of youth. She unconsciously lowered her hands first to her receding breasts, then to her boyishly-flat ass. Taking off her clothes, she regarded her skinny legs and her pubic hair, which had thinned dramatically. She went to sleep desperately hoping she could find the source of the potion.

Akiko awoke early the next day, eager to search for the answer to her mystery. When getting dressed, however, she encountered problems. Almost all of her clothes were simply too large for her skinny twelve-year-old body. Shirts were ridiculously baggy, pants were too long, skirts didn’t fit right, shoes were much too long and wide, and even her panties were a little too loose for comfort. Her breasts had shrunken to A-cups, and she had to stuff her bra with a good deal of tissue paper to even create the illusion that she had boobs at all. Rummaging through her clothes, she eventually settled on a formerly tight-fitting T-shirt (which now hung loosely on her) and a mini-skirt that functioned as a knee-length skirt. She put on some sneakers with a six-inch rise so she wouldn’t feel so short, stuffing the toe with tissue and tying the laces as tight as they would go to keep them on.

Akiko assessed her looks in the mirror. She sighed, a feeling of defeat washing over her. She realized she couldn’t go out in public looking as she did, as it would be too embarrassing. The fact she was getting smaller would cause her carefully fitted clothes to fall off her at some point, leading to more embarrassment. Instead, she phoned Ryo’s cell phone for help.

“Hello?” chirped Ryo’s voice over the phone.

“Ryo?”

“That’s me! And who’s this?”

“Uh, it’s Akiko.”

“Oh! Right! I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice. Whaddya need?”

“Well, none of my clothes fit anymore. Why don’t you come over after your classes are done and help me out?”

“Oh, sure! Actually, I’ll cut class now, it’s not really that important.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

“Okay! See you in a bit!”

Akiko put down the phone and waited for her friend to arrive. It didn’t take long; Ryo was serious about skipping class. Akiko let her in the door. Ryo started to look forward, expecting the eye-line of Akiko to be somewhere in that region, but her gaze slowly moved downward to stare at her youthful companion.

“Oh my, Akiko. Look, honey, sit down.” She guided Akiko to a nearby chair, holding her by the shoulders.

“Hey, what? What’s this about, Ryo?”

Saying nothing, Ryo quickly tugged Akiko’s loose shirt right off her.

“Hey!” Akiko squealed, throwing her arms over her chest.

Ryo looked critically at Akiko’s bra, containing little but tissue paper. “Come on, sweetie, do you even have boobs anymore? Let’s get this thing off you.” With a little bit of grappling with her friend, Ryo slipped the garment off her, causing wadded-up bits of paper to come pouring out.

“Ryo!” Akiko squawked.

“Just as I thought,” Ryo said, examining Akiko’s diminished chest. “I’ll get you a training bra if you want, but that stuffed bra just looks silly on you.”

After a moment, Akiko nodded. “Fine, but I don’t need the training bra.” With that, she put her shirt back on, trying not to look down at the flat plain her chest had become. “Anyway, I’m going to need some clothes that fit.”

“I’ll say.” Ryo said, chuckling. “Finally, I get to go shopping for my little sister!”

“Yeah, great. Look, I’ve got some measuring tape...”

With some quick measurements, the pair decided on what size Akiko was now. Akiko instructed her to get something tasteful, and only to buy one outfit, as she would probably be too small for it soon anyway. Ryo left, and came back within half an hour with a shopping bag.

Akiko opened the bag, and wasn’t too horrified with what she saw. Ryo had chosen a bright yellow tank top, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of jean shorts. Akiko also saw that there was a package of white panties, in a size that would fit her. She went to her bedroom to change (she ignored the shoes, preferring to wear her platforms), and came back looking slightly embarrassed, tugging at the outfit.

“Oh my god!” Ryo exclaimed as soon as Akiko came back into view. “You look so cute!”

“Aw, be quiet.” Akiko said, a redness coming over her face.

“Anyway, little sis, we need to talk.” Ryo said, adopting a grave tone to her voice. “Chiaki tells me you were out drinking the other day. Passed out on your floor, she says.”

“Well, yeah, but...” Akiko feebly protested. “But did she tell you what she did?”

Ryo shook her head, and Akiko recounted the story.

“Bitch!” Ryo fumed.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” agreed Akiko.

“We’ll have to get even with her somehow.” She looked off into space for a few seconds, then continued. “So, did you go talk to the magician?”

“Yeah. He said he can make an antidote if I find where it came from. That’s the good news; the bad news is that it’s going to make me six years old before it stops.”

Ryo’s face distorted into glee at the “bad news”, but she quickly suppressed it. “Okay, so we’ll just have to find out who sent it. You have any idea?”

Akiko waved her thin arm vaguely. “I was thinking maybe Chiaki; she’s getting a kick out of it. Could be Jin, he’s a joker, and that old man is actually his grandpa.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, I’ll talk to Chiaki tomorrow and see if she confesses anything. If she doesn’t...” Ryo gave a wry smile, and Akiko didn’t want to know what she was thinking about.

“The old guy said that Jin would help me if I asked him, so we should talk to him this weekend.”

“Don’t you think it was Jin?”

“If it was, then there’s nothing to worry about. He’s a nice guy, and he’d be the first to admit it - if he did it. He did say something to me that kind of got me suspicious, though...”

“Really? What did he say?”

“Er, he said something about ?sometimes a joke only seems like a joke’, and I thought he might be talking about the Youth Potion.”

Ryo seemed to digest this. “Oh yeah, where is the Youth Potion?”

“Uh, it’s still at the old man’s shop.”

“You dummy! How are we supposed to find out where it came from if we don’t have it?”

“Uh, well...” Akiko stammered, suddenly feeling very foolish.

“Come on! Let’s go get it!” Ryo said, slipping on her shoes. “Oh, but one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Could you take off those damn shoes?”

Akiko looked at her platform sneakers, which gave her a six inch lift. Even with them on, she was no more than a couple inches shorter than her friend. “Do I have to?”

“Yes. If you want me to help you, you have to be my little sister for a few days. Okay?” Ryo cajoled, with her usual sunny temperament.

Akiko conceded, taking off her sneakers with some reluctance. To her, it seemed as if everything got higher, including Ryo.

“That’s better. Yay!” Ryo said exuberantly, looking down at her shrunken friend, who was more than a head shorter than her. Akiko put on the shoes Ryo had bought her, and the two left for the magician’s shop.

Akiko did not enjoy the walk. It was like when Ryo had first found that she was taller than Akiko, but much worse. Ryo would often look down at her, and burst into a small fit of laughter. Akiko also found, to her humiliation, that she wasn’t receiving any of the male stares that she was used to; these were all directed to her companion. She looked up at Ryo and realized the sensations she were experiencing had to be on par with when she looked down on Ryo as Smile, but Ryo’s height was all natural, not platform enhanced.

The old man wasn’t in the mood to talk, so he gave them the potion without saying much. Ryo mentioned something about visiting other magic shops in town, and took the potion. Somewhat relieved to see her go, Akiko went back to the college to see if she could find Jin.

It wasn’t hard. Akiko simply waited by Jin’s bicycle, waiting for his classes to get over with. After less than an hour, Jin showed up.

“Uh, hi,” Akiko said, somewhat quietly.

“Um, hi,” Jin responded, not recognizing her.

Jin started to mount his bike. Akiko moved forward. “Wait.”

“What do you need?”

“Your grandpa said to talk to you.”

“My grandfather? Why? Who are you?”

“Um, I’m Akiko. Akiko Fubihara.”

A look of comprehension crept across Jin’s face. “Akiko? Really?”

Akiko replied with a nod.

“Oh, I see. That grandfather. I guess... you got the ol’ youth treatment? How?”

Akiko told him the story.

“Uh-huh. Look, you got nothing to worry about. Usually if someone sends a potion like that, like one that makes you that young without telling you, it means that they’ve got a grudge against you and they’re going to do something nasty once you’ve drank it. But nobody’s gone after you yet, right?”

“Well, Chiaki showed up and gave me a hard time, but she left soon.”

“Alright. Usually the sender would do something by now. I’m thinking, but I’m not sure, that they just got the instructions screwed up somehow.”

“Ah, okay.”

“So you’ve just got to figure out where it came from, and you’ll be good. There’s only so many places around here, in fact, in all of Japan, that do stuff like this. Here, I’ve got a list...” Jin fished out a small piece of paper from his backpack and handed it to Akiko.

“Wow, you’ve got everything covered,” Akiko awed, reading the paper.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I have to do this. Folks are always getting screwed up by this stuff.”

Akiko smiled. “And to think I thought it was you who sent it.”

“What? You did?”

“For a while. You do lots of stunts like that.”

“Heh. I only use magic in my jokes when it’s somebody I really don’t like.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” said Akiko warmly.

“Ryo probably told you, but you’re pretty cute like this,” Jin said, ruffling Akiko’s blue hair annoyingly. He swung his leg over his bike and rode away.

Akiko waited at the park, her designated meeting place with Ryo. Ryo came by in the afternoon, looking disappointed.

“Nothing,” she whined. “They were all fakes. It’s going to be impossible; there are so many places that think they sell magic stuff.”

“Don’t worry, Jin gave me this list,” Akiko said, handing Ryo the paper.

Ryo looked over it quickly, her eyes lighting up. “And these are all real magic shops?”

“Yeah. There’s not too many, you see.”

“Mm-hmm,” Ryo murmured, still absorbing the paper.

“So we should go check these out tomorrow, right?”

“No, that’s okay. Just leave the going to magic places to me, alright?”

“Er, if you say so.”

So they agreed that Ryo would be the one checking out magic shops and that Akiko would try to see if she could puzzle out the whole mystery of who sent it to her in the first place. Akiko was less than thrilled with this prospect, but at least it kept Ryo away from her much of the time. Or so she thought.

The next day, a Friday, Akiko’s body had lost all traces of puberty. Her once proud breasts had been reduced all the way to slightly puffy nipples. Her pubic hair had vanished completely. She had lost at least two inches in height since Ryo bought her clothes, so they were fairly loose-fitting on her now.

As she left the closet, she caught a glimpse of the Smile coat hanging in the doorway. Ryo had given it to her after the convention, and she had placed it on the coat hanger in the closet. She realized now that the coat was longer than she was tall, and that was with the boots she had worn! She closed the door behind her, thinking of how her cosplay days would be postponed for years if they didn’t find an antidote.

Akiko didn’t think that she was going to have much luck figuring out who her mystery potion-sender was, so she decided to spend the day shopping for fitting clothes. She purchased two outfits; one sized to her current body, and another smaller one for later. She also bought a pair of platform sneakers that fit her smaller feet, though she knew she couldn’t manage much of a thick sole, and only got them in a three inch height. The clothes she was wearing had become uncomfortably loose on her, so she ducked off to a restroom to change them. She came back out wearing a simple red shirt, black skirt, and the raised sneakers.

Later in the day, Akiko was sitting at a food court, enjoying some parfait, when she heard a voice shout her name. She twisted her head in the direction of the shout, and saw Chiaki jogging towards her. Akiko muttered something to herself as Chiaki took a seat across from her.

“I recognized the hair,” Chiaki explained, point to Akiko’s feathered blue hair. Akiko knew it really stood out in a crowd.

“Hi, Chiaki,” Akiko said evenly.

“I wanted to apologize for the other day,” said Chiaki, “But those pictures were too funny not to take!”

“I see,” Akiko said, without much forgiveness in her voice.

The two sat at the table for a while, Chiaki trying to make small talk and Akiko making it clear she was quite angry with her.

“So, how young are you going to get?” Chiaki said, changing the subject abruptly. “Can I look forward to changing baby Akiko’s diapers?”

“Not much more. I’m getting the antidote soon.” No use in telling her what she didn’t need to know.

“Ah. What’s it feel like, being little again?” Chiaki’s gaze lowered down to Akiko’s flat chest. “And to not have to wear a bra?”

“Excuse me, I have to go,” Akiko said, standing up and throwing the remains of her parfait away. Chiaki waved her goodbye, smiling.

Akiko didn’t see Ryo at all that day; she assumed she was visiting the magic shops. That was okay with her, because she wasn’t too fond of being in her regressed state around Ryo.

Akiko was hoping to sleep in on Saturday, but she was rudely awakened by a slew of doorbell-ringings. She got up to answer the door wearing her nightgown, the hem of which was dragging on the floor behind her. She opened the door and was unsurprised but annoyed to see Ryo.

“Hey, Akiko! What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just trying to get some sleep,” Akiko said testily.

“Aww, is somebody cranky?” Ryo chuckled, ruffling Akiko’s feathery hair playfully.

Akiko swatted Ryo’s hand away. This hair ruffling seemed to be happening more often the younger she got. “I thought you were going to magic shops today.”

“Well, I would, but they’re all closed. Seems none of them are open on weekends, at least that’s what Jin’s paper said. So you and I get to hang out all day!”

“That’s great.” Akiko said unconvincingly. “Let me get dressed real quick, okay?”

Akiko tossed on the clothes she wore the day before, which still fit reasonably well. Arriving back in the living room, she began interviewing Ryo.

“So, did you find anything yesterday?”

“If you mean anything about your potion, no. I did find some neat things, though,” Ryo said with one of her grins. Akiko didn’t ask about it, as she never did when Ryo flashed that grin. “So, what do you want to do today?”

Akiko found it didn’t really matter what she wanted to do that day (she wanted to go to the movies and other places that she wouldn’t have to be seen). Ryo took her about town shopping, eating, and partaking in other amusements.

“Here you are, Akiko-chan.” Ryo said sweetly, handing her companion an ice cream cone. She paid the vendor and began licking at her own ice cream.

“I ran into Chiaki again yesterday,” Akiko said.

“Really? What did she say?”

Akiko told her.

“Hmm. Maybe it really was her who sent the potion. She just loves seeing you like this, right?”

“Yeah, but so do you.”

“Akiko-chan!” (Ryo had recently started adding that suffix to Akiko’s name, and Akiko was quite annoyed by it) “You don’t think I sent it, do you?”

“No,” Akiko lied, “I’m just saying is all.”

“We should have tea or something with her and see if we can get her to confess.”

“I thought you said you were going to talk to her.”

Ryo’s face put on a puzzled look. “Oh yeah, I guess I did. Well, we should have her over for tea tomorrow and talk to her.”

“What makes you think she’ll admit anything? I think she’d have said something by now.”

“I dunno. I can be pretty persuasive sometimes,” Ryo said with a grin.

The two spent the rest of the day in idle diversions, and Ryo promised to invite Chiaki over for tea at Ryo’s place tomorrow.

Akiko slipped off her loose clothes to change into her nightgown. She took stock of her gradually dwindling body. She had begun to regain some baby fat, giving her a cherubic appearance. She threw her nightgown on, which fit like a tent.

“I wanted to be young, but not this young,” She sighed in her girlish voice.

The next day Akiko dressed herself in the smaller set of clothes she bought, which consisted of a white Hello Kitty T-shirt (it was the least embarrassing style she could find) and a pair of jeans. She went downstairs to make herself breakfast. Preparing meals had become an increasingly difficult task for the youthening Akiko, as she had to stretch and stand on the tips of her toes for items she would grab without a second thought when she was taller.

Akiko received a call from Ryo later.

“Chiaki’s going to be here at three to have tea,” Ryo said, “I told her you were coming, and she agreed immediately.”

“But I don’t want to come if Chiaki’s going to be there,” Akiko whined.

“But you have to! Trust me, you’ll want to be there.”

“Fine,” Akiko conceded.

Akiko went to Ryo’s at a quarter to three. She was surprised to find that Chiaki was already there, talking animatedly to Ryo.

“Oh hi, Akiko. Chiaki and I were just talking about you,” Ryo said, setting out teacups for them.

“Yeah, I’m sure you were,” Akiko said sourly, seeing the smile on Chiaki’s face.

“That’s a cute shirt you have there, Akiko-chan,” Chiaki said.

Akiko said nothing, but Ryo giggled. Bad enough that Ryo started to use that suffix, but it was more annoying when Chiaki did it.

“I hope you’ve been enjoying your week off.” Chiaki said, with a chuckle in her voice. “Old Kitabatake-san has been especially worried.”

“So, have you been curious as to how Akiko-chan arrived at this condition, Chiaki?” Ryo said pleasantly, pulling the teapot off of the stove.

“Yes, how did this all happen, Akiko?” Chiaki asked.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Akiko said, and Chiaki shook her head. “There was this ?Youth Potion’ sent to me, and I drank it.”

“Who sent this potion?” Chiaki asked.

“It didn’t say, but I think I know who it is.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“Somebody you know.”

“Who?”

Akiko shifted uncomfortably, and Ryo interrupted by serving them all tea.

“Drink up, guys,” Ryo said, “New variety, supposed to be pretty good.”

Akiko sipped at her cup. It tasted absolutely foul. She set the cup down and looked to Ryo. “Ryo...”

“Shh...” Ryo whispered, drinking from her cup purposefully.

“Hey, this is pretty good,” Chiaki said, after drinking a healthy amount. She took another pull at it, and licked her lips.

“You have any idea about who could have sent Akiko that potion, Chiaki?” Ryo asked.

“What? No.” Chiaki said, putting down her cup. Akiko noticed something strange about Chiaki, but she couldn’t identify it... then it came to her: she was regressing! Chiaki looked to be about eighteen now, her face having lost some of its former twenty-plus maturity. As Akiko watched, she seemed to be de-aging more rapidly. Her features became thinner, more youthful, and her chest began to recede.

Chiaki’s full chest, which was displayed most prominently by her tight shirt, started to seem less impressive. She didn’t immediately notice this, but unconsciously readjusted her bra. Whatever it was that was causing this transformation continued to take its toll; Chiaki’s bust continued to shrink, her features became even softer, her legs and butt thinned, she became slowly shorter, and her hips surrendered their womanly proportions. About when she reached the physical age of fifteen, Chiaki noticed something was wrong.

“Guh, I feel weird.” Chiaki said, standing up. She was wearing a pair of low-riding, hip-hugging pants, and as a result of her decreased dimensions, they lost their hold on her and crumpled to the ground. Akiko and Ryo were afforded a brief view of Chiaki’s yellow panties before she hiked her pants back up. She looked down to see what had caused her pants to fall, and saw her diminished breasts. Letting her pants drop, she pulled her collar open and looked into her shirt. She was horrified to find her breasts, once plump globes, reduced to modest growths resting within the spacious confines of the bra they once filled. Chiaki quickly realized what was happening, and tried to run towards the door. She stumbled a bit on the pants pooled by her ankles. The stumbling allowed Ryo enough time to grab her by the arm.

“Stick around for a bit, we got some questions for ya.” Ryo said, addressing the scared-looking fourteen-year-old. Chiaki was shrinking rapidly, suffering from a reverse growth spurt. Her shirt billowed on her, slipping down to cover her flattening ass. Her legs became thin and boring, her little breasts became even littler and melted into her chest, leaving her bra hanging uselessly on her small shoulders. Freckles began to spread across her youthful face. The process stopped, leaving her an awkward, small eleven-year-old, feebly struggling in Ryo’s grip.

“Okay, now tell me. Who sent that potion to Akiko?” asked Ryo.

“I don’t know!” bawled Chiaki. “Change me back!”

“You don’t know? You’re sure it wasn’t you?” continued Ryo.

“No!”

“If you don’t tell us, I’ll make you younger! You’ll be calling Akiko-chan ?big sister’!” Ryo threatened, shaking the younger girl.

“I swear, I don’t know!” Chiaki answered, still twisting in Ryo’s grasp. Her movements disturbed her panties’ tenuous grip on her body, and they came sliding down her legs.

Ryo dragged her body over to the table, and grabbed a cup of tea. She forced the liquid down Chiaki’s gullet, and observed the changes. Chiaki shrunk even more, causing her shirt’s collar to slip over her shoulder, revealing a flat nipple.

“Stop!” Chiaki wailed in her high-pitched voice.

Akiko, who had been watching in stunned silence, approached. “Ryo, stop. That’s enough.” Akiko thought it quite a shock to be regressing as slow as she was. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like in Chiaki’s position.

Chiaki, who looked to be no older than seven now, wiped her eyes on her now-lengthy sleeve.

Ryo looked ahead blankly for a moment, then let go of Chiaki’s arm. “Er, sorry Chiaki. I guess I got carried away.” Ryo paused for a bit. “You’re sure you didn’t send it?”

“Yes!” Chiaki sniffled.

“Can you change her back?” Akiko said quietly.

“Yes, but...” Ryo said, scratching the back of her head.

“But what?”

“I thought it would be best to leave her like this for a while, to see if she’s telling the truth.”

Akiko looked to Ryo’s hopeful eyes, then to the pitiful Chiaki, clad only in her overlarge shirt. She was about to ask Ryo for the antidote, then thought of the camera incident a few days previous. “Okay,” she said to Ryo, and then whispered to her, “Make sure to get pictures.”

Some time later, Ryo and Akiko were seated across from each other, drinking tea (a new pot that Ryo had made). “I guess you got some stuff from the magic shops,” Akiko said, taking another sip of her tea. Ryo nodded. “And you put it in the tea.” Ryo nodded again. “And why weren’t we affected?”

Ryo put down her teacup and slowly wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Well, the potion I got only works on white people. The magician made it that way. I think he was a bit of a racist.”

“Weird.” Akiko said, draining the last of her tea. She got up, waved to Ryo, and headed to the door. “It’s been too strange. See you later.”

Ryo waved back, and then turned her attention to the youthened Chiaki.

Akiko continued to regress the next day, much to her chagrin. She was starting to get truly small, and was having difficulties with formerly pedestrian tasks due to her decreased height and clumsy, tiny hands. Her once long nails were now flat stubs on her fingers.

She got a call in the afternoon from Ryo, who informed her that she was going to check more of the magic shops. “What are you doing about Chiaki?” Akiko asked.

“Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine.”

“You’re not worried she’ll go and tell people what happened or something?”

“No, don’t worry about that. It’s fine.”

Akiko chose not to press the issue any further, and said goodbye to Ryo. Turning off the phone, she looked at her clothes. They were fitting poorly lately, which was starting to annoy her. She wondered if anybody would think it strange if an eight-year-old girl bought clothes by herself, without any adult with her. She reasoned that they probably would, but nobody would say anything. Akiko laced up her platform sneakers, and was slightly reassured by the meager height boost they provided.

Akiko walked down to the train station, she became increasingly aware of her reduced stature. Everything seemed huge to her, people doubly so. High school kids she used to look down upon now loomed over her, large and frightening. Older people flashed her condescending smiles, which she thought of as both comforting and infuriating. When Akiko arrived at the train station, she couldn’t bring herself to board it. It was filled with people who were gigantic to her. She knew it was stupid to be afraid of the train; she had ridden it many times, but was still unable to get on it. She rushed home, leaving the intimidating world beyond her front door.

Akiko kept shrinking throughout the evening, increasing her desperation. She wondered if she would ever return to her proper age. She worried that Ryo was purposefully not finding the antidote to keep her young. She thought about how she was going to catch up in her classes if she ever returned to adulthood. Akiko went to sleep with these troubling thoughts.

Waking up in the morning, Akiko got dressed in her baggy clothes, but not before looking at herself in the mirror. She had acquired something of a tummy overnight. Her limbs and face had also become childishly pudgy. Had she not been so worried about her predicament, Akiko would have thought she looked rather cute.

Akiko fixed herself breakfast with some difficulty, making quite a mess as she went. She often had to stand on chairs to retrieve ingredients, and her small hands made manipulating cooking utensils difficult.

As she kept shrinking throughout the day, Akiko’s clothes became even more inappropriate for her size. She eventually stopped wearing her oversized pants, allowing her shirt to act as an impromptu dress. Late in the evening she received another call from Ryo.

“Hello?” Akiko said, cradling the phone in two hands.

Ryo didn’t answer for a moment, as if taken aback by Akiko’s childish pitch. “Akiko, I’ve got some bad news.”

Akiko’s heart raced. “Yeah? What is it?”

“Well, I visited every store on that list, and none of them said they’ve sold any age-altering magic at all in the last month. The closest was a place that sold an aging tonic six weeks ago. I had to do a bit of pressuring to even get her to admit that.”

Akiko was at a loss for words. “I... see,” she squeaked.

“I guess we’ll just have to try something else...” Ryo said. “Hey, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Akiko looked at the kitchen, which was still a complete mess. “I’m fine. Still getting younger,” she said with a small chuckle.

“Uh-huh. Say,” Ryo said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “How young are you now?”

Akiko glanced at herself in a nearby mirror. “I’d say about seven,” she said, with a bit of nervous foot-shuffling.

“?Kay. I’ll be over to your place tomorrow. We can discuss things... and stuff.”

“Thanks Ryo, you’ve been a big help.”

“Anything for my little sister,” Ryo replied, then hung up.

Sometime the next day Akiko realized she had stopped regressing. She wasn’t sure how she knew. It was as if she was missing a certain feeling, a vague feeling of shrinking. She was a little six-year-old now, innocent and helpless-looking. Knowing she was incapable of doing most of the tasks she had barely been able to accomplish the past few days, Akiko didn’t try. She ate snack foods she had in her kitchen, and made messes without bothering to clean them up.

True to her promise, Ryo arrived in the afternoon. Akiko struggled to open the door, using both hands, but Ryo let herself in after noticing Akiko’s struggles. Akiko looked up at the towering Ryo. When they had last seen each other, Akiko at least came up to her friend’s chest. Now, her head was parallel with Ryo’s waist.

Ryo looked down at Akiko with an expression that was equal parts surprise, adoration, and desire to hug. “Oh my god! You’re so cute!” Ryo squealed, reaching down and lifting Akiko in a sudden embrace. Akiko’s cheeks burned for the whole half minute that Ryo squeezed, petted, and nuzzled her.

Upon finally being set upon the ground, Akiko said, “Nice to see you too.”

Ryo squatted down to speak to her. “I’m sorry that you’re stuck like this for a while, but I certainly enjoy it.” Ryo said, rubbing Akiko’s cheek and ruffling her hair.

“Hey, stop it!” Akiko protested, batting away Ryo’s hand.

“Okay, okay,” Ryo said agreeably. She stood up and looked around the house. She noticed the mess that Akiko had made. “Wanna go out for food? I’m kind of hungry.”

“I thought we were going to figure out who sent me the potion,” Akiko said, crossing her arms. She was trying to look intimidating, but realized it wasn’t quite having the effect she wanted.

Still, Ryo looked guilty. “Er, about that. Listen, Akiko. No magic place near here is ?fessing up about selling it, and we have no idea of who could have sent it. The chances of figuring out an antidote are pretty slim.”

“What?! So that’s it? I have to stay like this forever?” Akiko shrieked, tears forming in her eyes.

“No, no.” Ryo said hastily, bending down to comfort her. “Some of the places said they could make an antidote, but it would take at least a year, and it might cost a bit.”

“A year?” Akiko wailed.

“That’s better than seventeen years. You could make some excuse to the college, and be back to your old self this time next year.”

It took another few minutes of Ryo’s reassuring comments to calm Akiko down. Though still determined to solve the mystery, Akiko was almost prepared to deal with the possibility of staying like this.

“I can’t go,” Akiko said. “I don’t have any clothes that fit, this was actually my shirt.” Akiko tugged at the border of her shirt. “And I don’t have any shoes.” She raised her tiny foot.

“That’s okay.” Said Ryo. “That shirt will do until we get some better clothes, and I happen to have some shoes.” She reached into her backpack and produced a pair of little shoes. Akiko slipped them on and found they fit quite well. They were children’s shoes, with a very flat sole. Akiko sighed and longed for the days when she could wear a thick sole.

On the way to the clothing store, Akiko convinced herself that it was Ryo who sent the Youth Potion. How else would she be so prepared? And it was obvious she was just making a show of going to the magic shops. Then there was the matter of how she had acquired the potion she used on Chiaki. Akiko was supplied with fitting clothes at the store: a light blue summer dress. Ryo gushed over how “cute” it was on her most of the way downtown, while Akiko thought up ways she could force a confession out of Ryo or find the antidote.

“Wait out here for a second; they don’t like kids in here.” Ryo said. They were stopped outside a small teashop. Akiko replied an affirmative and watched through the window as Ryo browsed through the store. She soon tired of this, and took to looking at the window displays. A certain display caught her eye, it said:

New “Agnitio” blend! Available non-caffeinated.

Then something occurred to her. She stole a glance through the window to see that Ryo was occupied, then ran off towards her home.

With the energy and tirelessness of the child she was, Akiko sped back to the college complex, stopping by her house to retrieve one thing. Though she wasn’t getting tired, it took much longer to cross the campus with her little legs, another reminder of her reduced position.

Knocking lightly, Akiko stepped timidly into the office. The elderly man, seated at a desk strewn with papers, looked over his thick glasses at Akiko. “Can I help you, little miss? Are you lost?”

“No, Kitabatake-san. I’ve come to ask you a question.”

“A question?” He asked quizzically. He thought for a moment, then said. “Who are you?”

“It’s me, Akiko,” Akiko said, advancing towards the desk.

“Akiko?”

“Yes. Akiko Fubihara.” She took out of her pocket the portrait of herself she drew in Kitabatake’s class and slid it towards him. She figured he wouldn’t have recognized her with her youthful look, but the blue hair wasn’t helping either.

Kitabatake reeled backwards in his chair. “What? How did this happen? Oh dear...” He replaced his reading glasses with another pair to look at Akiko better. “I’m truly sorry about this. Shall I explain?”

Akiko nodded politely.

“I’ve been dabbling in Youth Potions for years. I noted your concern over your wrinkles, and thought I could help. Obviously I sent the wrong potion.” He shrugged. “My sight isn’t what it was.”

“Do you have an antidote?” Akiko asked, her mind dreading the possibility of a negative answer. This was the million dollar question.

“No, I don’t.” Akiko slumped, looking like she was about to cry. But Kitabatake continued. “But talk to my potion-maker.” He scribbled an address and a name on a sheet of paper and handed it to her. “I’m terribly sorry about this.”

Akiko quickly brightened up, glad that a resolution was at hand. “It’s all right. It’s been fun, in a way.”

Kitabatake smiled. “I’ll clear your absences with the administration. It’s the least I can do.”

“Thank you.” Akiko said, and bowed to him. She left his office and looked at the paper. The potion-maker went by the name “Dr. A”, and was located not far from the college. Akiko realized his name wasn’t on the list Jin had, and wondered about that.

Dr. A wasn’t a particularly old man, nor was he a particularly young one. He had a genial look about him, almost grandfatherly in its benevolence. His large glasses had dark black frames, and he had great furry white sideburns. He had thinning white hair, and a smart English-style jacket. Akiko guessed him to be of European upbringing himself, until he spoke.

“Hello there,” he said, inspecting a tube of some red liquid. “What can I do for a fine girl like yourself today?” He had a noticeable American accent.

Akiko looked around the room. It wasn’t stocked with mysterious magical bric-a-brac, but rather with scientific equipment. “This doesn’t look like a magic shop,” she blurted.

“No, it doesn’t,” he said patronizingly. “I study chemistry here.”

“I was told it was you who makes potions.”

“Indeed?”

“Kitabatake-san got a Youth Potion from you. I drank some of it, and...” She gestured to herself.

“Ah, I see. I thought I detected a presence of intelligence and maturity from you. I suppose you’d like the antidote?”

Akiko nodded.

“Very well. Do you have the formula with you?”

Akiko shook her head.

“Do you remember what kind of effect it had? Were there any instructions with it?”

“It came with the wrong instructions. A magician told me it made the drinker one quarter their normal age.”

“Excellent. I can have an antidote for you in a few hours. You don’t mind waiting, correct?”

Akiko nodded and took a seat on a stool by the doctor’s counter. She watched him work, then asked him: “How did the magician figure out what kind of potion it was? I mean, if he was a magician, and your potion wasn’t magical...”

“Technology,” said the doctor. “Sufficiently advanced, it is indistinguishable from magic.” He let a compound boil on a hotplate, then spoke again. “This formula will make you age at the same rate as the other, just in the other direction. You’ll have to drink it all, and it will make you a little sick.”

A couple hours later, Dr. A was finished with the concoction. It was a whitish substance, which he gave to her in a vial. Akiko thanked him, bowed, and left the building to her home.

At her house she found Ryo waiting. “Where have you been? You had me worried sick!” She shouted, rushing out to meet her.

“I got the antidote,” Akiko said.

“What? You did? Where?”

Akiko told her the story. Ryo was impressed. She tried to stay around for a bit, to enjoy Akiko’s youth while it lasted, but Akiko sternly (or as sternly as a six-year-old could) told her to leave so she could consume the potion. Ryo agreed reluctantly, leaving Akiko by herself. She regarded the pale liquid, and quaffed it swiftly.

A horrible feeling came up from Akiko’s stomach. It felt as if something there was expanding, threatening to make her vomit. She fell down, and more sensations assaulted her. It felt as if her crotch was getting moist, as if she was peeing herself, then the moist feeling spread to the rest of her body. She felt terribly cold, and began to shiver. Then, suddenly, it stopped. She was dry all over. She was groggy, and had trouble balancing. Stumbling to her bedroom, she crawled into her giant bed and slept.

Akiko awoke feeling even more tired than she felt before she slept. Feeling a peculiar constricted sensation about her body, Akiko realized she must have grown quite a bit while she slept. She twisted onto her back, sat up, and pulled the covers off herself. While she did this, she heard a series of ripping sounds. She looked down and saw her dress splitting apart at the seams, falling off her enlarged body in tatters. Her feet felt sore, and a quick glance confirmed the reason. Her feet had lengthened and burst rather uncomfortably from her child-sized sneakers. Looking over her body with satisfaction, Akiko guessed her age to be ten, maybe eleven already.

Groggily shambling around her room to find suitable clothing, Akiko noticed the clock. It was six in the afternoon, and it was a Sunday. She quickly calculated, and realized she had slept for four days, but more importantly, she was ten now. She found the outfit of clothes she had purchased for this body, and put them on. Passing by a mirror, she was that her hair had been growing much faster than normal. Her natural color was showing through, the blue dyed hair only accounting for a small percentage of her hair now. She would need to get a haircut once this was over. She then went tiredly to her living room and watched some television to pass the time. About three hours later, while watching some documentary on sentai shows, Akiko fell asleep.

Awaking to see the television blaring some nonsensical anime or other, Akiko sat up quickly. She felt well-rested now, and was eager to see what the day had to offer her. Peeking into her shirt, she saw that her nipples had become swollen. She recognized that she would soon be going through puberty again, albeit in a rather short time, and that thought pleased her. It was eight, she noticed, and she knew Ryo had classes.

For much of the day, Akiko busied herself cleaning the mess her younger self had left in the kitchen and elsewhere. It was still difficult in her eleven-year-old body, but not as impossible as it had been a few days ago. After finishing these duties up, it was almost three, and Ryo would be finished with her classes soon. Akiko decided to pay her a visit.

It was an especially nice day, and the campus was quite a pleasant sight. A light breeze rustled the grass in an attractive fashion, and the air was alive with the sounds of near-springtime exuberance. This splendid image is what greeted Ryo as she walked outside. That, and the sight of Akiko standing next to a tree, waving at her. Ryo rushed to her, embracing her excitedly.

“Hey! What’s the occasion?” asked Akiko, confused.

“You’ve been out for five days! I was worried about you!” Ryo explained.

“Four days by my count. I woke up yesterday.”

“I checked on you every day! You just kept sleeping, and nothing I did could wake you up.”

“Didn’t you check yesterday?”

“Well, yesterday, I was a little busy,” Ryo said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

“Busy with what?” Akiko asked curiously.

“Well, it had to do with Chiaki...”

“Why? What’s happened to her?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s fine.”

Akiko seemed to accept this, and didn’t speak for a few moments. Ryo broke the silence.

“So, I see that antidote’s working.”

“Yeah. He said it was going to age me at the same rate as the last one, but in the other direction.”

Ryo nodded. Akiko spoke again. “Hey, I got nothing to do tonight. Let’s go get something to eat, you and me.”

Ryo looked hesitant. “Err, I don’t know.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“It’s about Chiaki...”

“Again? Why?”

“Umm, maybe you better come over to my place and see for yourself.”

Akiko followed Ryo to her house, expecting the worst the entire way.

Ryo led Akiko into a room, continually telling her to promise not to get angry. There, near the corner of the room, was a baby’s crib. Akiko believed she knew what this was leading to, and looked into the crib apprehensively. Lying in it, snoozing peacefully, was an adorable infant. She was maybe a year and a half old, and was dressed in nothing but a white cloth diaper. Akiko noticed the child’s curly head of blonde hair, and turned to Ryo.

“Ryo!”

“What?”

“Is this who I think it is?”

“Err. Umm. Who do you think it is?” Ryo said evasively.

“Is it Chiaki?”

Ryo nervously twisted her finger, and ran a hand through her hair. “It is,” she said ashamedly.

Akiko just shook her head.

“I wasn’t planning on doing it! But I kept giving her more doses of the potion, I couldn’t help myself! Eventually she ended up like this!”

Akiko looked at her balefully. “How long has she been this old?”

“Actually, since that Sunday.”

“What?! She’s been stuck in this body for a week?”

“Well, yeah. She doesn’t like it.”

“I would think so, yeah!” Akiko said angrily. She wasn’t sure why she was so mad at Ryo for doing this. Maybe it was because she truly understood the difficulties of being younger against one’s will. “When are you going to change her back?”

“Well, I was going to really soon, but she kept threatening to do all sorts of things to me, and I didn’t want her big so she could actually do them...”

Akiko thought for a bit. She certainly remembered that Chiaki did have something of a vengeful streak. “Well, maybe after I grow up, she’ll be more afraid to try something if I’m around. Maybe.”

Ryo looked doubtful. “In that case, could I wait until you get a little older?”

Akiko gazed upon the slumbering baby. “Alright. She is kind of cute.”

“You should see her when she’s awake.” Ryo said happily. She scooped Chiaki up out of the crib and began cradling her gently. Chiaki’s little eyes slowly opened, revealing their bright blue shine.

“Hey!” Chiaki said angrily, looking up at Ryo. “I was having a good sweep. Sleep.” She continued in her babyish voice. Chiaki seemed to have trouble pronouncing certain things around her small mouth.

“Aww, I’m sorry. Look, someone’s come to visit you.”

Chiaki looked to see Akiko standing nearby. “Oh no, not you. Wait, how’d you get so old?”

Akiko shrugged. “You look cute.”

“Change me back now!” Chiaki shrieked, flailing her little limbs impotently.

“I will soon if you do me a favor.” Ryo said, bouncing the little girl gently in her arms.

“What?”

“Akiko and I-“ Ryo started, then stopped. She ran her hand along the fabric of Chiaki’s diaper. “Did you wet yourself? I changed you at lunch break.”

Chiaki’s face turned bright red, and she glanced at Akiko. “No I didn’t.”

Ryo wasn’t convinced, and inserted a pair of fingers into the diaper, ignoring the protests of Chiaki’s feeble limbs. “You did! Hold on, Akiko, this will only take a second.”

Akiko giggled in spite of herself, and watched Ryo lay the infant down on a changing table. Chiaki was thrashing spiritedly, but Ryo seemed used to it. Ryo quickly undid the diaper and threw it into a bin. Chiaki threw down an arm to cover herself, but Ryo pushed it away, and starting drying her with a cloth. She flipped the protesting child over and did the same to her little butt. After a couple sprinkles of baby powder, Ryo bent down, lifted a package of disposable diapers and began opening it.

“This is what I needed to get yesterday,” explained Ryo. She proceeded to diaper Chiaki in one of the crinkly plastic diapers.

“What’s this?” Chiaki squeaked indignantly. “What happened to the cwoff ones?”

“I don’t have any more of the cloth ones, sweety,” Ryo said patronizingly.

“You would if you washed them.” Chiaki said sullenly, crossing her arms over her chest, which served to look comical. “And don’t call me sweety.”

“Anyways, I have a deal for you. Akiko and I are going to go out and eat, and I don’t want to leave you here. If you come with us and behave yourself, I’ll change you back on, uh, let’s say... Friday.”

“Fwiday, I mean Friday, when’s that?”

“It’s Monday, so four days from today.”

“Fouw days!” Chiaki exclaimed, not bothering to correct her pronunciation.

“Take it or leave it.”

“Fine. But don’t tell anybody about this, wemembew?”

“Of course not,” Ryo said, pulling out a camera and snapping a picture of the angry little Chiaki. “Not a word.”

The three sat at a corner table in a moderately-priced sushi bar. The place wasn’t well regarded for its sushi, but rather for its atmosphere and service. It was tastefully decorated, and the waiters and waitresses were notably polite. Ryo shifted about continually, smiling at Chiaki occasionally. Akiko had a relaxed look about her, and would assist Ryo in cooing at Chiaki. Chiaki, dressed in a jumper for the occasion, looked like she’d rather be swallowing hot glass while washing it down with motor oil.

The waiter came by, and served their drinks. Akiko sipped at her soda, wishing she were old enough to order a stiff drink to unwind after the stress of the past week or two. Ryo ignored her sake to try to feed Chiaki her milk. Chiaki was making it difficult.

After she had forced Chiaki to ingest a satisfactory amount of milk, Ryo watched their waiter walk by. “I bet he’d make a cute kid.”

“Is that all you think about now?” Akiko half-teased, half-scolded. She was of the opinion that the waiter would make a cute kid, though. He was handsome as a twenty-something, and had a charming sort of nervousness to him.

Akiko and Ryo ate their sushi, and Ryo congratulated her on finding the antidote. It was an overenthusiastic, slurred congratulation because Ryo had drunken a great deal of sake before their sushi was ready. Akiko nervously tried to quiet her and they ended up leaving before they planned to.

It was late afternoon, and Akiko nearly had to drag the drunken Ryo home, while holding on to baby Chiaki. Ryo passed out on her bed when they got back to her house, which left Akiko to tend to Chiaki.

“Come on, just fall asleep so I can go home.”

“Why do you need me aswee, asleep?” Chiaki responded, pacing testily in her crib. Well, not really pacing, but walking back and forth in a wobbly gait.

“Ryo would kill me if she knew I didn’t put you to sleep.”

“Well, that’s your problem then. I’m not sleepy.” Chiaki said, sitting down defiantly with a crinkle.

Akiko noticed Chiaki’s peculiar annoyed expression. “Did you mess yourself again?”

“No!”

“If you don’t go to sleep, I’ll have to change you.”

“Don’t!” Chiaki said, mortified, as she backed up to the corner of her crib.

“Fine, I won’t.” Akiko said. She sat down in a nearby chair and watched Chiaki’s uncomfortable shifting. Eventually it got to be too much for Chiaki.

“Okay, change me,” she whispered in her little voice.

“What’s that?”

“I said change me!” Chiaki shouted.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I will if you go to sleep.”

Chiaki’s face turned scarlet, out of both embarrassment and anger. “Fine!”

“That’s more like it,” Akiko said kindly, lifting Chiaki out of the crib and onto the changing table. She unfastened the plastic diaper as Chiaki lied there resignedly. Akiko cleaned her up and powdered her. Chiaki’s face was red the whole time. Pulling out a fresh diaper, Akiko suddenly thought of something. She put the diaper back down and walked over to Ryo’s sleeping form.

“What awe you doing?” said Chiaki, who was lying on her back, naked. Akiko said nothing and came back holding Ryo’s camera. A couple quick flashes captured the image of the embarrassed child. “Hey, stop that!” she said, holding her pudgy little arms up as if to defend herself.

“That’s payback for the ones you took,” Akiko said coolly, diapering her.

Chiaki fell asleep a half hour later, but not because of her agreement with Akiko. She was genuinely tired.

Akiko left for her home, admiring the starry night on her way back. That wonderful sight, and the realization she was growing up again and her rival was in diapers made her jubilantly run and jump the rest of the way home. When she got home, she felt a semi-familiar pain in her chest. Excitedly she stretched open the cuff of her shirt to look at her bosom. Though they weren’t much, they were there: beginnings of breasts. Akiko tore off her shirt and felt their mass, a feeling she hadn’t known for a while. They were stinging mildly because she had been running without any support on them. This didn’t bother her much, considering. Akiko put her shirt back on and went to make herself some tea.

Akiko didn’t go to sleep until late that night. She stayed up late watching television or reading, while periodically checking on the status of her breasts. They grew from mere little bumps to a decent-sized A-cup in the span of a few hours (which was almost a quarter of a year in her body’s reckoning). Akiko went to sleep looking forward to wearing a bra again.

Not having much to do that day, Akiko slept in on Tuesday until about noon. Immediately she felt her breasts through her nightshirt. They had certainly sprouted overnight; they were now noticeable mounds. Akiko noticed, while changing into her clothes, that she had grown a small, soft patch of pubic hair. Her other hair continued to grow longer, now past shoulder-length.

For most of the day, Akiko lounged around at the park or at home, enjoying the experience of going through a growth spurt in a day. By the time she was ready to go to bed, she saw that the jean shorts she had been wearing were quite undersized, and they revealed a couple inches of her upper leg. She smiled to herself and went to sleep.

When she woke up the next day, Akiko noticed a peculiar feeling around her hindquarters. She looked down and saw that her panties were stretched tight across her body, from a combination of her burgeoning ass and widening hips. After shedding her nightshirt, she gingerly took her panties off. Looking at her naked body in the mirror, Akiko was rather pleased. She was regaining a semblance of her curves, and her breasts had grown into at least B cups. Looking around, Akiko noted that she didn’t have any clothes that fit her. That didn’t bother her, though, as she wasn’t intending to do much that day anyway.

Akiko simply draped a bed sheet over her developing body for that day. Later in the evening, she got bored and decided to try on some of her old clothes. Akiko retrieved one of her bras from her dresser, and marveled at how large it was. She knew it wouldn’t fit on her still small chest, but she thought it would be fun to try. Putting it on, Akiko stifled a giggle. It hung loosely on her small frame, and the cups dwarfed her breasts. She realized she still had a long way to go. Next she slipped on a pair of her panties, and a pair of jeans. They both fit loosely. Her skinny legs failed to fill the legs of the jeans, and her hips were still too narrow. After trying the pants, Akiko put on one of her sweaters. It was reasonably wearable, but the sleeves were an inch or two too long, and the whole thing was rather baggy.

She was about to finish when she stared at the Smile coat hanging in the doorway. It had grown out of reach before, but she could get her hands on it if she tried. With a mischievous grin, she reached up and plucked the coat off the hanger. She slipped it on, but her body was still too small to keep the hem off her floor. She slipped into her closet, and found the boots she had worn at the convention. She dragged them over to the bed, since it would have been too awkward to have put them on standing up, and zipped them on to her legs. Her legs were too thin to make the leather bulge like she had, but she was able to carefully get to her feet and shuffle her way over to the mirror.

The image that greeted her was one she felt gladder seeing when she was getting older than younger. She was able to keep the hem of the coat off the ground with the high platforms. The coat barely stayed on her upper body though, as she kept holding it up to keep it from falling down. The gloves on her hands looked oversized. Her hair was all wrong for this, as the lengthening effect the aging was having made it too long. She giggled at the sight. This is just like playing dress-up, she thought. But whose mother would think this type of outfit normal to dress-up as? Having had enough of this, Akiko shed the clothes and went to sleep.

Over the next few days, Akiko continued to steadily grow and mature. By Friday she was fifteen, and could wear her clothes without feeling too idiotic, though she still failed to completely fill her bra. She remedied this with liberal application of tissue paper. Slipping on some elevated sneakers, she declared the outfit complete and set off towards Ryo’s house.

“Who is it?” Ryo called as Akiko knocked on the door. She replied, and Ryo told her to come in. Walking towards where she heard Ryo’s voice come from, Akiko was not pleased with what she saw. Discarded packages of baby formula and disposable diapers suggested to her that Chiaki was still in her infantile state.

Sure enough, Akiko found Ryo cradling a diaper-clad Chiaki, guiding a bottle into her lips.

“Ahem,” Akiko said, glaring disapprovingly at Ryo.

“Oh, hi Akiko. What’s going on?”

“I thought you said you’d change her back.”

“Yeah, after you got bigger.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I did,” Akiko replied coldly.

“Well, but, I meant...”

“Yeah, you said Fwiday!” Chiaki chimed in, looking up angrily. “I’ve been counting, and I know today’s Fwiday!”

Ryo looked from angry little Chiaki to stern, still youthful Akiko. “Maybe just a couple more days? I mean, come on, you’re still a kid...”

“No, Ryo. Change her back now.”

Ryo looked again to Chiaki, who was still cute despite looking completely furious. “And if I don’t?”

“If you don’t, then: if Chiaki, as you probably think she might, regresses you as revenge, I won’t help you.”

Ryo looked frightened; obviously she thought this a very real possibility. “Fine.” She set Chiaki down on the changing table, and retreated into her closet. She came back out holding a short, fat vial. Reading the instructions on it, Ryo poured a couple teaspoons full of the stuff into Chiaki’s bottle.

Chiaki sucked from the bottle greedily as soon as Ryo placed it in her mouth. At once she started to grow, developing quite like one of those sped up videos of flowers growing. Soon she became too large for the diaper, and it split under the pressure from her growing body. Chiaki continued to grow, still drinking from the bottle. As she grew larger, her baby fat melting away, Chiaki became too large for the changing table and hopped off it. She looked down at her maturing body, and grinned widely when her nipples swelled to little breasts. Suddenly, it stopped, leaving Chiaki a gawky thirteen-year-old, standing naked in front of the other two girls, who were watching her transformation with interest.

Chiaki threw an arm over her tiny chest and put a hand over her crotch. “Why am I still little?” She accused in an annoying teenage voice.

“Probably because you didn’t drink the whole potion.” Ryo explained, pointing to the discarded bottle, which still had an appreciable amount of fluid left. Chiaki glared at her and bent to pick up the bottle, and drained the last of its contents.

Again Chiaki began to grow. Her body began maturing: her legs thickened, her hips widened, her breasts plumped, her butt fattened, her freckles faded away, and a curly patch of pubic hair sprouted at her groin. Still growing taller, she became taller than Akiko, then Ryo. After it was all finished, she was again a sexy young woman.

Looking scornfully at Ryo, she said, “Clothes.”

Ryo pointed to the closet without much enthusiasm. Chiaki stomped off in the indicated direction.

“Well, now that that’s taken care of...” Akiko said, heading towards the door. Ryo shot her a look of longing, but said nothing.

Akiko went walking back to her home, pleased with herself. She heard the sound of someone running up behind her, and looked to see Chiaki running towards her. Akiko rolled her eyes and waited for her to catch up.

Chiaki panted for a moment, then looked hard at Akiko. She seemed to be taking in her youthful body, and was contemplating saying something crushing, but didn’t. “Akiko... thanks. And I’m sorry about what I did earlier.”

Akiko remembered that Chiaki apologized before, but this time she seemed to mean it. “Accepted,” she said, and smiled as she walked away from Chiaki.

Akiko returned to school on Monday, when she was eighteen again. Nobody noticed any difference, as she looked quite like her old self again. She was almost as tall as she used to be, and again taller than either Chiaki or Ryo. She wore her platforms to reinforce the fact.

Over the next five days Akiko aged back into her twenty-three-year-old self. This time, she didn’t mind the wrinkles so much.

Epilogue

“Smile, over here!”

Akiko turned in the direction of the fanboy’s shouting. She smiled, placing her hands on her hips and posing for the cameras.

Akiko’s life had been great ever since the incident. She had graduated from college and gotten her degree. Her experience had given her a youthful look on things. She had kept wearing the platforms she had worn as a teenager, as well as having her hair continually dyed blue, kept short in that feathered look. She attended cosplay as often as she could, and became rather well known for her dead-on Smile outfit.

“Quit hogging the camera, Akiko!” Ryo stepped forward, showcasing her Yuli outfit, the lead singer of the video game music group Devil. Ryo had decided to join Akiko in her cosplay theme, since Akiko was frequently going to the conventions as Smile. This gave her leverage against Akiko, as she made her promise to cosplay outfits she designed more often. “Honestly, just because you’re the biggest of us, doesn’t mean you should get the most attention!” Ryo said, pressing up to Akiko for a group pose.

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this,” said Chiaki. Gone was the white skin and blond hair, a brown tan and green wig in its place to get her Ash outfit straight. Fake, fuzzy dog ears completed her facial look, the outfit on her body making her look as accurate as can be to the character. “These platforms are killing me! How do you do it Akiko?”

Akiko smiled and put one foot forward. “Practice! And a desire to be taller doesn’t hurt.”

Ryo gave a smile at the cameras as she leaned in to resume her participation in the conversation. “You’re tall enough! We should all be the same height! You’ve got at least 4 inches on both us, and we’re wearing plats too!”

Akiko hushed Ryo and Chiaki. “Unless you get me to drink more of that Youth Potion, I’m not getting smaller anytime soon!” Akiko placed her arms on top of their heads, giving her the impression of her character dominating the two of them. Ryo looked to Chiaki, who was looking rather annoyed at the pose. Chiaki peered at Ryo, looking for some kind of help in being relieved of this mild embarrassment. With a wink of her eye, Ryo conveyed a message.

After a few more photos, the towering trio made their way off the photo circuit, and back to their hotel rooms. Their height made them stand out in a crowd, as walking down the sidewalks was enough of a Kodak moment for people to snap photos of them. They stepped inside their shared hotel room and sat down.

Chiaki immediately sat down on her bed and started to pry the boots off her feet. The six inch elevator boots came off with a tug. “Ugh! Finally!” She wiggled her toes, then brought her foot up and started massaging them in an attempt to relieve the soreness.

Akiko chuckled and crossed her legs, as Ryo went into the small kitchen to prepare some drinks. “Cheer up, you looked wonderful.”

Chiaki fumed a little. “At what price? If this keeps up I’ll barely be able to walk!”

Akiko giggled, glad she wasn’t experiencing the same trouble. Ever since her episode as a little girl, she wanted to keep the height advantage in her favor as much as possible.

Ryo entered the room, carrying a tray with three drinks. “Well, another day, another slew of our photos making it on the Internet. Let’s drink some tea to relax!”

“Amen to that,” Chiaki said, reaching forward and taking a cup.

Akiko reached forward and took the glass closest to her. “Thank you!”

Ryo smiled and leaned back against the counter. Akiko didn’t notice Ryo staring at her as she took a sip of the tea. Chiaki took a sip as well, looking over to Ryo. She cocked her head in confusion at her stare, and turned to look at Akiko.

Akiko was oblivious to all around her as she finished off her tea. She leaned back and relaxed, when a curious tingling sensation made her stomach quiver. She blinked, but her vision had become blurry. Her head started to spin. “Ohh, I don’t feel so good.”

Ryo gently placed her tea cup down and moved over to Akiko. “Here, let me help you to the bed.” She reached down and helped Akiko stand.

Akiko was still experiencing strange things in her body. It felt as if something was reaching out and pulling every bit of herself inward. She started to fear that she was getting younger again, and that Ryo had somehow drugged her. However, she became paralyzed, and could only stand there as whatever it was that was supposed to happen started to happen. She felt the bandages around her upper torso loosen and shift, the long coat sliding down her arms. The hem of the coat approached the ground, resting on her boots. Her feet started to slide further into the boots as toe and heel drew closer together. Her gloves slipped off her hands, causing Chiaki to gasp as she became aware of what was happening.

Almost immediately, Chiaki started to put on her boots as Akiko’s head cleared. Akiko was still dizzy for the most part, and took a moment to clear her vision.

“Are you okay?” Ryo said, standing next to her friend. She continued to support her by the shoulders, but a large grin was on her face.

“I’m fine I think...just dizzy there for a moment,” Akiko said, bringing both hands to cup her breasts. She was glad to feel them as large as they ever were. But she started to feel dizzy again, and reached over to place a bare hand on Ryo’s shoulders. The motion disturbed her, because she had to reach forward, not down, to do this. However, the dizziness quickly left her. Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at Ryo.

Ryo stared back at her eyes, eye-level with hers. Her smile got bigger.

Akiko turned to look at Chiaki, who was standing on her left. She had to look up, quite surprised she had to do so. Chiaki was also smiling, looking down her nose at Akiko.

Ryo took the moment to blurt in. “Surprise!”

To be continued ...?

 

---